


Gimme A "C"! Gimme A "B"! What Does That Stand For? Confused Bisexual

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Sports, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Blood and Violence, Boys in Skirts, Cheerleaders, Competition, Crossdressing, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Drama, Fandom Allusions & Cliches & References, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Genre Shift, Gun Violence, Gyms, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, Locker Room, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mates, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Mistaken Identity, Pack Dynamics, Pining, Rivalry, Violence, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 17:43:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18503914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Seto Kaiba is an all-stars cheerleader- one of the best of the bestHe happens to come across a beautifull man at the gym one day and falls for him immediately, there's just one problem.... he can't seem to actually ask him out because his "freind" keeps getting in the wayWhat follows is a long journey through cheerleading, love.... and something much, much more....





	1. There's Nothing "Tranquil As A Forest" About This Shit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [venom_for_free](https://archiveofourown.org/users/venom_for_free/gifts).



> Art Sunday's prompt wich ended up becoming Art Wendsday apparently, collabed with the gorgeous and magnificent Venom who I definitely blame for making this go way, way overboard xD
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this crazy ride!!

Seto Kaiba hated change

Generally speaking, he hated breaks in routine, things being up in the air, everything shifting...

But, as he tried to convince himself, this time the change was a good thing

Mokuba was finally of age to take over a larger percentage of work in the company, meaning he had more time to train, something he had been longing for for the past several years

He hated putting more work on his brother, and had tried for months to convince him that he didn't need to take on more, but Mokuba was as persistent as Seto was and he insisted that after all the years Seto had spent putting his favorite passion aside for him, minimizing what made him happy so that he could raise Mokuba and take care of the company, it was time that he give something back to his brother

Besides, it wasn't like Seto could do this forever, he needed to enjoy it wile he could, the life of an athlete was always short but in this particular line of sport, it was especially so

So, due to all of that, his hours at the gym had changed, now he was going in the late afternoon and instead of early evening so that he had more time to practice with the other members of his team

The gym he attended was actually a sort of halvsies gym, half of it was your standard exercise gym, but the other half- wich was exclusive to certain members- was a gymnasium that was meant for athletes such as gymnasts, skaters, dancers, and other stunt-focused work to practice in

It was relatively small but he was thankfull for it all the same

For now though, he was just going to work out a little upstairs in the primary gym before heading down to work on stunts, he needed to get his muscles stretched out a little after spending all day sitting in an office chair typing on a computer

Typically, Seto never paid attention to the people around him

He wasn't a people-watcher, he was a very focused person, and gym-bunnies never caught his attention anyway, why the fuck would you want to pick up someone in a _gym_ of all places?

Everything about gyms was a huge turn off for him actually, being surrounded by sweaty, tired, red-faced strangers all sharing their various scents and bodily fluids was enough to almost pick at that nearly-there germaphobia he had been slowly developing for years and he _swore_ if it weren't for his hobby he would have developed it in full by the time he was a teenager

That said, it certainly wasn't a place for seeking romance, he could promise that

Hell he didn't even like looking at _himself_ during a work out, much less other people, and he needed to concentrate anyway

He was half-done with his work out, intending to go down to the secondary gym in five or ten minutes, when he heard a crash up ahead of him

Surprised, he put his barbell down, popped his earbuds out, and sat up, peering around the corner at what had made the noise

Apparently some guy had fallen off the treadmill, he was on his back, a water bottle spilled on top of him and his iPod laying off to the side somewhere with- .. was that _I'll Make A Man Out Of You_ playing on that thing!?

The stranger, who had weird and wild multi-toned hair, by the way, slowly rose to his feet, grumbling something that Seto couldn't quite make out, and then... _pulling off his shirt_

Just like that, Seto felt like he was part of a really terrible romance movie

He could _swear_ that he heard saxophones playing in his head, the guy seeming to move in slow motion as he peeled his shirt off over his head and tossed it over his shoulder, turning around in equally slow motion and- ....

Suddenly Seto understood _exactly_ why people used the gym as a place to find dates

The Mulan-loving-stranger was fucking _gorgeous_ , even with his hair sticking to his face and his skin flushed and sweat rolling down every inch of his sun-kissed skin....... or was that just from the water bottle?

Either way, he had long hair and dark skin and muscles for _days_ and fucking _red eyes_ like a vampire and Seto ... Seto hadn't exhaled for atleast thirty seconds

The stranger walked right past him, offering a small but seductive- ~~polite~~ \- smile at Seto as he passed by him, and Seto thought he might just die

Hurriedly, he scrambled to collect his earbuds and iPod and shove them in his pocket, nearly jumping off of the bench and following the stranger into the locker room

But by the time he got there, the shower was already on and Sexy Mulan-Lover was nowhere to be seen

_Damn_...

He was pretty sure it would be creepy to just ... wait on him, so he decided to give up for now and go downstairs as originally planned

Oh well, Seto could see him tommorrow, of this much he was certain

 

~+~

 

Surely enough, when Seto arrived, the cute Disney fan was working on an exercise bike, and he was determined to get a better look at him

He hurried to get his things put in his locker and rush back to the gym floor, not typically a fan of exercise bikes but deciding to give it a shot anyway for the pure sake of getting closer to the pretty man

He couldn't help it, ok? He had never been attracted to anyone before and he was desperate to see what made this random stranger so perfect when, in the last twenty-two years, Seto had never once had as much as a desire to _glance_ at another person

He settled down on the bike next to the other man, noting that his earbuds were in and trying to figure out how best to approach him that wouldn't spook him

Well, probably, he should wait until the guy was finished and took his earbuds in instead of trying to talk to him now, that would lead to a bad first impression

He just hoped Mr. Disney wasn't the type to waste all of his time on one machine, Seto hated exercise bikes as it was, he didn't want to spend all day on one

About thirty minutes into the work out, the stranger finally stopped, taking his earbuds out and climbing down from the machine

_Thank the gods_

Seto hurriedly stopped too, grabbing his towel to wipe away a little sweat, make himself a little more presentable, and hop down himself, but just as he was about to open his mouth-

"Yo 'Tem! We gotta go buddy, I got a late class to go to!"

Jerking his head up, Seto's eyes narrowed at a tall blonde man with a thick Kansai-Ben accent

Nodding eagerly, the smaller man- "Tem"?- raced off towards him and took his hand, letting the blonde lead him back to the locker room

....

Ok now who in the fresh fuck was this?

 

~+~

 

Determined to get to talking with Cute Disney Boy this time, Seto showed up a bit earlier for his work out, making some excuse to get out of a meeting in order to do so

Unfortunately, when he first got in, he couldn't find Cute Boy anywhere

Not in the gym, not in the locker room, he even checked the lobby- nothing

Now Seto was peeved, he decided he would have to work out some aggression and took to the bar bells again, then the treadmill, but right as he was making his way to the lower floor gym, just as he was rounding the corner for the stairs, he bumped into the very man he was looking for!!

And he had apparently been coming from the lower floor gym!

Praise be! Praise be to whatever god was out there and blessing him with this golden opportunity!!

"O-Oh, sorry,"

Seto felt two immediate reactions to hearing the man's voice for the first time:

1\. His heartbeat quickened

2\. His dick twitched

This man's voice was deeper than a fucking lion's roar and all of a sudden Seto lost the ability to speak

"It's alright, it was my fault," he said a minute later, slowly standing up and helping Cute Frank Sinatra to his feet

"Both our faults," the stranger reasoned with a peacefull smile

"Fair enough, I've actually been meaning to speak to you the last couple of days, I heard you playing Mulan the other day and - .. well,"

He paused long enough to turn around, showing off the back of his t-shirt, wich had "Graduate Of Li Shang's Martial Arts Academy" printed on it ~~he had worn this yesterday too and washed it last night in the hopes of impressing Disney Boy~~

"Cute!!" the stranger laughed, positively beaming by the time Seto turned around

Before Seto could say another word, however, that damn blonde from yesterday appeared at the top of the stairs too and put a hand on the stranger's shoulder, probably as an act of marking his territory

"Late class again, we gotta get goin' bud, ready to hit the showers?"

The stranger gave a small nod, smiling up at the blonde as if he had hung the fucking moon and then looked back to Seto

"It was nice meeting you, I hope I can see you again when I'm in less of a hurry," he noted, waving as he headed to the locker room, the blonde lingering for a moment behind him, long enough for Seto to make note of the old t-shirt he was wearing, a faded picture of a dog on it, as well as some words in English that he couldn't quite see well enough to read, before the blonde gave a curt nod and followed his ........ whatever Disney Boy was to him

....

That settled it then, Dog Man would have to die

 

~+~

 

The next day Seto came even earlier just so he could rush through a bit of upstairs training, then make his way downstairs to the secondary gym

SUCCESS!!!

Deep-Voice-Mousketeer was on the balance beam doing backflips

Wow... so he must be an athlete like Seto then

He wondered what he was....

Gymnast? Figure skater? Ballerina? There were so many options and Seto loved each one more than the last

He had to admit though, he was particularly fond of the idea of dating a ballerina, there was so much craft and elegance in it....

Taking a breath, he headed over to the balance beam and waited for the stranger to land, and when he finally did, he met eyes with Seto almost immediately, and the way he smiled....

He certainly didn't _seem_ like he was attached to Dog Boy

"Hello again,"

"Hello yourself," Seto smirked, gearing up to make The Move

He needed to flirt first, ofcourse, or so he had always heard

Then once the target of his affections was warmed up, he could go about forming that date he was hoping for

"So, as I was trying to note the other day, I've been coming here for years but haven't seen you until quite recently, how long have you been coming here?"

"Oh a wile now, maybe .... four or five years," he noted with a smirk and a playfull wink

"Is that so? Then I suppose we've somehow always missed eachother, that's unfortunate,"

"Is it?" the stranger asked with a small smirk, his eyebrows raised, clearly he was teasing, he was flirting back, this was good

"I certainly think so, I would have liked to introduce myself sooner," he noted, holding his hand out politely

"Seto," for now, he was keeping his last name mum, Seto was something of a minor celebrity, but he was _far_ more recognizable by name than by face, the Kaiba name was attached to half the gaming industry in some way or another by now, even if someone didn't necessarily know who he was, the likelihood was high that they would have heard of him just by virtue of living in Japan, like how all Americans recognized the name "Kardashian" even if they had never bought a cosmetic or watched an episode of reality TV in their lives

He wanted to keep his identity on the backburner for now, the last thing he wanted to do was make a potentially great relationship into an awkward mess....

"Atem," the beautifull man finally replied, shaking Seto's hand firmly

Huh, he must not be a gymnast, there were no callouses on his palms from swinging on the bars...

With one ruled out and several left to go, Seto narrowed his focus in on some sort of dancer, that was probably the most likely, and hell, even figure skaters could be defined as dancers honestly...

"It's nice to meet you Atem, I take it by the fact that you're down here that you're some sort of athlete?"

Atem smiled at that, his eyes lighting up, and Seto felt his heart absolutely _soar_

The athlete-of-unidentified-origins was even more gorgeous smiling than he was with his resting face- whatever one may wish to define that as

Seto could stare at that smile for days

"I am, I'm training for a competition, actually,"

"How interesting, so am I, what competition would it happen to be?"

Atem seemed _overjoyed_ at that question

"Guess," he demanded moments later

That certainly took Seto by a bit of surprise, but he wasn't one to argue, so instead, he merely tilted his head, and ventured a guess

"Figure skating,"

"Oh I wish, but sadly not, I can _barely_ skate,"

"Ball-"

"Ah-ah," Atem corrected quickly, smirking like the devil

"Now _I_ get to guess _your_ sport, unless you'd rather just tell me,"

"Nice try, but take a guess,"

Unfortunately, Atem didn't even get the chance to go that far, before he could, someone _else_ caught his attention

And Seto surely didn't need to _guess_ who that someone was

"'Tem!! We gotta go buddy!"

Glancing over his shoulder at the blonde, ~~-who Seto wanted to murder-~~ Atem turned back to the other athlete with a morose smile

"Sorry, I have to go, I'll see you tommorrow?"

"Do you really _have_ to go?"

"He's my ride," Atem shrugged back

Ah, he supposed that was better than "He's my boyfreind", and the constant use of the term "buddy" didn't exactly sound ... relationshippy.... but then again, they were in a public place, they might not want to be .. _out_ in public

"Tommorrow?" Atem repeated, finally withdrawing from Seto's space and letting go of his hand

"Tommorrow," he agreed, watching with aggravation as Atem ran off to the blonde and disappeared around the corner

Fucking perfect....

 

~+~

 

The next day Seto arrived even earlier in the hopes of getting as much time with Atem as possible

He still wasn't exactly clear on the other man's schedule and he'd prefer not to miss out just by taking guesses, if he had to double his amount of time at the gym, then that was a sacrifice he was willing to make

His bold move apparently paid off

After searching the upper floor and yeilding no results, he headed downstairs and struck gold

Atem was laying on one of the mats stretching, this time sans his iPod, but with his earbuds plugged into his cell phone instead

Excited to talk to him again, Seto made his way immediately over to the other athlete and sat down next to him, tapping him on the shoulder and- .. apparently spooking him, if the scream and jumping were any indication

Well that reaction certainly took Seto by surprise

Atem hurriedly pulled his earbuds out, taking a few startled breaths as he glared at Seto

"You cannot sneak up on someone like that,"

"Didn't know I was sneaking," the CEO snorted back, rolling his eyes as he stared down at the phone, eyebrows slowly raising

"Creepy videos huh?"

Well that explained alot

"I allowed Joey to borrow my iPod, I thought I'd listen to scary stories instead of music for that reason,"

"And that seems to be working really well for you," Seto noted sarcastically

Atem rolled his eyes and gave the taller man a playfull shove, offering one earbud out to him

"Do you like scary stories? I don't mind sharing wile we stretch if you'd like,"

Oh, that was... that was nice....

".. Sure, I don't think I've heard this one before," he noted, glancing down at the title

"It's pretty good, barely five minutes in, I'll restart it,"

Feeling his lips twitch up into a smirk, Seto figured that he would listen to this with Atem for a wile, then when they actually got to their practices, he'd bring up the topic of what Atem was practicing for again

There was just one little problem with that plan

Within a few minutes of starting the video again, Seto noticed that Atem wasn't moving, and when he shifted to get a look at his face....

He was fucking _asleep_!!

Now Seto was in a particularly awkward position

He could wake Atem up, but if he had fallen asleep wile working out, he was probably exhausted and needed the rest

The blonde moron had once mentioned having a late class, did that mean Atem was in college? If so, the extra sleep was definitely understandable

On the other hand, he could let Atem sleep, but he wouldn't want to just ... get up and leave him there, that would be dangerous

And besides, if Seto got up, that would probably wake him up anyway and then they'd be back at square one

Frustrated by the lack of good options to choose from, Seto ultimately decided to atleast finish out the story, he wanted to hear the rest of it anyway, and maybe by the time it was over Atem would wake up on his own and Seto wouldn't have to choose at all

There was just one problem with that little plan

A few minutes into deciding it.....

Seto fell asleep himself

 

~+~

 

The sensation of movement had Seto waking immediately

He had always been a fairly light sleeper, but when it came to unwanted naps? The _smallest_ thing could wake him up

Atleast.... usually

In this particular case, however, upon jerking upwards and spying the blonde bent over Atem, gently rousing him, he came to the rather startling conclusion that he had been asleep for.... _a wile_

The video seemed to be long over, the phone having fallen asleep, and Seto didn't recognize any of the people around them either...

"Oh.. oh no, we fell asleep..." Atem mumbled from beside him

Seto slowly took his earbud out and turned to the other, about to say-.... _something_ , he wasn't actually sure what, when he was immediately interrupted

"Ohh!! Dolphin!!"

Blinking, Seto turned his attention back to Atem, eyebrows slowly raised, watching the other man reach forward and grab a dolphin shaped plastic cup from the blonde in front of him

It reminded Seto of the kind from the local aquarium...

"I figured ya'd like that, I got it for ya' wile we were on that feild trip today,"

Feild trip?

What college students took _feild trips_?

Maybe Seto had it wrong then, maybe this guy wasn't a college student at all, maybe he was a grade school teacher, that would explain the feild trip thing....

Atem, looking quite bright-eyed and bushy-tailed all of a sudden, eagerly took a sip of whatever was housed in the dolphin cup, and stared up at the blonde with an excited, joy-filled expression

"Is this dolphin full of cherry slushie?"

"Yep,"

" _Gods_ if you weren't dating my best freind, I'd marry you,"

Well as much as that "marry" comment stung, atleast now he knew with 100% certainty that they weren't dating

Huzzah!

"I'm sorry Seto," Atem said suddenly, turning to gently place a hand on Seto's arm

"I should have known this would happen, scary stories always put me to sleep, I had just thought this would be different since I was trying to exercise but... anyhow, it seems that my tiredness got to you too,"

"It's alright, I'll see you tommorrow though, right?"

"Ofcourse," Atem smiled back, standing up and giving Seto a little wave before taking the blonde's hand and leaving the gym

Sighing in annoyance and a weird sense of emotional exhaustion, he rubbed a hand down his face and stood up, glancing up at the clock on the wall

....

Two hours

.....

They had been asleep for two hours

...............

Seto quietly made his way to the locker room.... and _screamed_

 

~+~

 

Atem liked dolphins

That was good information to have

Seto decided to use that information to his advantage and bought him a cute little dolphin keychain

Ofcourse he _could_ have gone for something significantly better and more expensive, like a diamond dolphin necklace, but he worried something like that _might_ make him come off too strongly so he resisted the urge and went for the keychain instead

He was rather excited to see Atem's face when he got it, unfortunately....

He seemingly never would

Upon getting to the gym, he immediately spotted the dumb blonde on the pec deck machine, but Atem was nowhere to be seen

Figuring he was probably downstairs again, Seto made his way down to check, but alas, still nothing

Now he was starting to get annoyed

Hurriedly, he made his way to the blonde, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring until the other man stopped what he was doing, took his earbuds out, and looked up at him

"Yo,"

"Where is Atem?"

"He ain't here,"

_'Wonderfull, I already knew that,'_ is what Seto _wanted_ to say, but he resisted the urge

"I can see that, why? He said he would be here today,"

"He's at home recoverin', he won't be back here for a week or so,"

... _WHAT!?_

"What's he recovering from? Is he alright?"

"He's fine," the blonde shrugged back, getting off of the machine and grabbing his towel

"I'm sure you'll see 'im again whenever he gets back to doin' this,"

And just like that, providing him with very little in terms of actually helpfull information, the blonde was gone, and Seto was left to silently scream in frustration


	2. The Deceptions Of Pom Poms And A Cute Skirt

"Come on, cheer up Kaiba, get it? _Cheer_ up?"

Glancing slowly up at the idiot who thought it was a good idea to talk to him, Seto merely glared and huffed before turning his attention back to the work he was trying to finish

His work had started to suffer recently due to all of the time he had spent preparing for the competition this weekend, not to mention the mental energy he had spent thinking about Atem....

Right, Atem had mentioned having a competition of his own recently, Seto wondered if he would be ok in time for that, whenever it was....

"We got your hair dye!! We're all ready to Joker you up tommorrow night!" came another, far too cheery exclamation 

"Great, you know I still don't approve of this right? If we're doing Harley we really should do Poison Quinn,"

"Well we aren't doing _Harley_ , we're doing _Suicide Squad_ , and Ivy wasn't involved," came an annoyed huff from behind him

"Haven't you ever heard of creative freedom?"

All of a sudden, a set of perfectly manicured, purple painted fingernails hung over his laptop screen, forcing him to lift his head and stare up at the woman in front of him

"Kaiba, you're doing the green haired monster, get over it,"

Seto merely huffed in irritation, grumbling something about just wearing a wig so he wouldn't have to dye his hair such a hideous color as he swatted his squad-mate's hand away

"You know, is it just me, or is he more ornery than usual?" asked the third and final male member of the squad

"He's having _love problems_ ," the blonde woman smirked back

"Oh please-"

"Who _isn't_?" the other man huffed, crossing his arms over his chest

"I'm chasing after a lacrosse player who probably doesn't know I exist, Mai has a crush on a libraian who I'm _pretty_ sure is in the process of becoming a nun, Kara's in love with that American CEO you keep chatting with, and Marik is interested in a fucking _yakuza member_ ,"

"It really wouldn't be so bad if he were atleast in the same gang I'm in," Marik noted with an annoyed eye roll, and upon everyone else in the room going quiet, he glanced up from his drink, eyebrows raising

"What? You all _know_ I'm in a mob, you just refuse to acknowledge it,"

".... Anyway," the brunette continued, clearing his throat

"My point is that you're not special Kaiba, we've all got issues in the love department,"

"Thanks so much for your veiwpoint _Devlin_ , but this isn't a 'love' issue, I'm just frustrated, that's all, we have a competition tommorrow and I have a meeting on Monday, the next three days are going to be difficult," he huffed back, finally finishing the report he had needed to fill out and shutting off his computer, rising to his feet

"Now shall we get to practicing before the sun comes up, or what?"

 

~+~

 

_"I really do love talking to you Kara, but don't you have to get some sleep? Your competition is tommorrow, isn't it?"_

"Yeah but I don't have to sleep for another couple of hours, as soon as Duke gets back we're dying Seto's hair anyway,"

_"And that requires all twelve of you...?"_ the CEO on the computer screen laughed

"Well no, Mai is going to do it, but I bet it'll be fun to watch,"

Seto, in the mean time, was just sighing in annoyance

As if having to get his hair dyed wasn't going to be a painfull enough experience, he's having to relinquish his laptop to the American nerd

He had just offered to set her up with a "meeting" with the CEO at L Corp, since Duke had mentioned the night before that she was interested in Lena, he had never intended for her to abscond with the damn thing for the next three fucking hours!

He leaned back, dragging his hands over his face and feeling the frustration starting to claw at the back of his skull

Giving an awkward, talkative, American bisexual access to a beautifull, charming, American lesbian was really not the smartest idea he'd ever had when he _needed his laptop_

Gods, he was going to die like this wasn't he?

Just as he heard the conversation take a turn into _talking about Lena's dog_ \- thus confirming that the conversation would, in fact, continue for atleast the next seven hours- the door swung open, a panicked looking Duke standing in the doorway

"You are not going to _BELIEVE_ who I just saw!"

"Who?" Mai and several of the other girls asked, all suddenly gathering around the doorway, even Kara was distracted from her conversation for the moment

"The hot lacrosse player! He's in this hotel!!"

Everyone gasped like it was a damn soap opera and Seto started wondering how hard he'd hit the ground if he did, indeed, jump out a ten story window...

"Seriously!? Do you think there's a lacrosse game this weekend?" Mai asked curiously

"I don't think so, I haven't heard of one... but maybe yeah, he was with this other jock I think, some blonde in a dog shirt,"

Wait.... jocky blonde in a dog shirt?

...

No, no it can't be

That _can't_ be the cockblocker!!!

"What else can you tell me about the blonde?" Seto asked suddenly, leaping up from his chair

"Um, not much, he had brown eyes I think, and uh... oh! He had a really thick Kansai-"

"-accent," Seto concluded quickly

It _WAS_ the cockblocker!!

"Take me to him," the CEO demanded, not wasting a moment as he raced out of the hotel room, his squad-mate right on his tail

"Wait a second Kaiba! I don't even know where they were going!"

"Are you telling me you finally saw this crush of your's outside of a lacrosse game and you STILL didn't say a word to him? Ugh, fucking _coward_!"

"Hey! I seem to recall YOU not asking out YOUR crush-!"

"Because that fucking dog-man keeps showing up every five minutes! How am I supposed to flirt with the guy when that fucking blonde meathead keeps practically marking his territory on him!?"

Seto _slammed_ his fist down on the elevator button, pressing it over and over again in quick succession, as if that would make the thing arrive any faster, and glaring at the illuminated floor numbers above

Come on come on come on come on come on.....

"You know, just because Mulder landed in your lap it doesn't mean Scully is with him,"

Slowly, Seto turned around, a sheerly exhausted look on his face

".... Did you really just make an X-Files reference about _jocks_?"

"Well would you really have understood me if I'd made a sports reference?"

"........ Fair,"

The elevator landed- HUZZAH!!

"What floor were they on?" he demanded hurriedly, yanking the other cheerleader in by the arm

"U-Um, first floor, lobby,"

Seto wasted no time in slamming his finger down on the button dramatically, practically bouncing on his feet with anxiousness and anticipation

The lobby? Did that mean they were just getting in?

Then there was a good chance they were still there, right?

"Did they have any luggage with them?"

"Um... I don't think so, they were just sitting in the lobby, I think they were waiting on someone,"

Someone like _Atem_!!

The minute the elevator doors opened, he rushed outside, his teammate right behind him as they rushed into the lobby, and just as Seto managed to race around the corner into the lobby....

He saw the head of that blonde nitwit, as well as a much shorter little bunch of spikes, head through the doors of the hotel

"ATEM!!"

DAMMIT!!!

"Huh? Oh, no, that's Yugi, but they sure look alike, don't they?"

Glancing beside him, a tall brunette munching on a chocolate bar was speaking to him, assumedly the hot lacrosse player Duke was all starry-eyed for

Really, Seto didn't see the appeal

"Yugi....." he repeated slowly, watching the duo through the windows by the large double doors and only then noticing that the spikey-haired creature was actually shorter than Atem, and paler, and ... _wearing a dress_....

_Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh_

Atem must have a _sister_!!

A twin, probably, considering the hair, he couldn't imagine anyone choosing to do that to themself unless their idiot twin had done it too

So that was it....

Atem's sister was here with Dumb and Dumber...

Did that mean that Atem was also here? Or coming here? Or was he still injured at home?

Oh well, the point was, he knew that atleast Atem's freind and sibling were here, maybe he could talk to the sister then, maybe she would be more helpfull than the nitwit cockblocker, maybe she could even give Seto Atem's number....

Because _that's_ not creepy at all

Sighing quietly, he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere right now, and let his shoulders sag, turning back to the elevator and catching a glimpse of Duke and the lacrosse guy chatting

Duke was twirling his hair, swaying his hips a little, and Seto realized he would have to get Mai to dye his hair if he had any hopes of actually getting it done by morning

He dragged himself into the elevator, leaned back against the wall as he pressed the button to go back up to the top floor, and waited tiredly before finally arriving

And upon walking back into the hotel room, he was met with Mai and Marik fighting over a crop top, three of the other girls asleep _on **his** bed_, and... Kara still talking to Lena on his laptop

"Oh oh! Did I show you that picture of Streaky when she was five months old!?"

Dear fuck now she had her cat's "baby album" out fishing through Polaroids- because apparently THAT had still been a thing five years ago- to show to Lena through the computer screen

Slowly, Seto made his way towards the window, and started seriously wondering about jumping out it

 

~+~

 

"We're going to do great today!! Did everybody sleep well?"

"Well I may have if I hadn't rolled over on your _kitten album_ ," Seto grumbled, eyes narrowed as he plopped the photo album down in front of Kara at the breakfast table

The blonde's face fell, paling and wincing as she slowly picked up the album

"Oh I'm so sorry... I just... I was up so late talking to-"

"Trust me, _I know_ ,"

"... I'm sorry.. I really didn't know I'd left it there...."

Seto exhaled loudly, rubbing his eyes

No one could stay mad at Kara, she was like a kitten in human form

The cheer squad had more or less adopted her after she'd moved to Japan with her sister for her sister's job, and in the four years she had been here, Seto couldn't remember anyone on the squad ever being so much as _annoyed_ with her for longer than two minutes

"It's fine, I know you wanted to talk to your... _whatever she is_ ,"

"So you're not mad....?"

"I'm not mad,"

And then, because she's a _hugger_ , she gave Seto a big hug and he had to restrain the urge to tense up, purely because he just... wasn't _used_ to hugs

_Despite_ how often the blonde gave them

Ah childhood touch starvation, so we meet again

Just as he started getting his focus back and _some_ tension began to drain out of him, what with Kara's sunshiney mood returning and her releasing him to go back to his coffee, Annoyance #2 made his entrance

"Well _I_ slept _great_!" Duke announced, flopping down in one of the chairs at the large breakfast table, clearly still in the clothes he was wearing last night

_Fucking show-off_

"Yeah but who did you sleep _with_?" Mai snickered, taking a bite of her pancakes

"Weeeeeeeeeeeell let's just say that although he usually plays _pitcher_ , he was a _catcher_ last night,"

Among all of the "oooooohs" and "aahhhhhhs" and giggles at the table, Seto posed a question

"Isn't that _baseball_?"

Duke's face fell, a single, nervous laugh leaving his throat as he grabbed a coffee cup from the table as well as the coffee pitcher

"... Shut up, I don't know how lacrosse works,"

"Well that makes 99% of the world," Marik noted with a snicker of his own, practically _slamming_ his fork down into his sausage

Ah American breakfasts, if Seto cared more about food he would have stepped in to protest when the entire squad ordered the American special

Oh well, atleast he liked the pastries

"Is something bothering you Marik?" one of the other girls, a red-head named Kou, asked with concern

"Oh nothing really, my sister is going to be showing up to watch the competition on her way to a fucking _religious conference_ , I'm really not sure if I'm more upset by the idea of her coming to watch me cheer or by the fact that I'm apparently an afterthought on her way to something more important,"

"I'm sure it isn't like that," Kara said softly

"What even _is_ your religion anyway?" Duke asked curiously

"Kemeticism, it's the same shit our ancestors believed dating all the way back to ancient Egypt, just... you know, modernized here and there," he replied with a huff, picking at his food

"I've never been that into it but my siblings are _very_ religious, anyhow, Odion has always come to my competitions but this is the first time my sister will be there, there's just something unsettling about it, but I can't figure out what,"

"Are you worried she'll judge you? I mean, our routine is pretty.... um.... _modern_ ," Kou noted

"I don't know... Kemeticism doesn't have any of that puritan nonsense that other religions have, we believe in sexual freedom, essentially, we're really not the judgey type, well... not as a religion anyway, my sister as a _person_ , on the other hand...."

Seto was only barely listening to any of this as it was, his concerns far more focused on his own problems

He wondered if Atem was here

If he was, why?

Was his competition- whatever it was- also this weekend, coincidentally in the same place as Seto's?

Or was he here for one of his idiot freinds?

Maybe his sister was here with someone and he was here with her as a protective older- twin?- brother?

That might explain why the dumb mutt and the lacrosse jock were here too...

As he was rolling these thoughts around in his head, he happened to glance away from the table and caught sight of a little girl holding a balloon... shaped like a dolphin....

An idea coming to mind, he smirked and suddenly got up from the table, ignoring the calls after him as he rushed towards the little girl

"Excuse me, where did you get that balloon?"

 

~+~

 

Seto had to admit, he was pretty proud of himself

There was now a beautifull new dolphin balloon sitting in his hotel room, and when he eventually met Atem- **and. he. WOULD!** \- he could give it to him in sans of the keychain that he had left at home

With that in mind, his mood had vastly improved, and he was now completely ready for their routine

They were all in costume, hair and make up perfectly done, he didn't even mind being dressed as The Joker at this point

They were going fourth in the competition, so they still had a few more minutes to finish warm-ups before they would need to make their way out of the holding room to the main stage

He was just finishing up his stretches when he happened to glance over at one of the other teams and -....

No.... fucking.... way.....

Atem's sister!!!!

She was on the other team!!!!!!

Jumping to his feet, he hurried a little closer, swallowing tightly as he watched the petite creature spread out into a split and lean forward to touch her toes

She looked _exactly_ like Atem, definitely must be a twin, and her skin was darker like his too, the lighting in the hotel must have been off last night...

She was small but muscular, with those same beautifull red eyes, dressed in a red and blue cheer uniform with a cute little mini skirt and her hair tied up in a blue ribbon, pretty glittery red and blue make up- red lipstick, blue eyeshadow, and a red spider on one cheek with a blue web on the other

.. Huh... she looked kind of like she was doing a Spiderman theme....

She was _so_ gorgeous though.... and Seto started to wonder if maybe he had been doing the wrong thing all this time

Chasing Atem clearly wasn't going well, weather it be because of the blonde nitwit or some kind of divine intervention, he just didn't seem to be able to corner him long enough to ask him out

~~Yes, corner him, like a predator trying to catch a rabbit, because that's how you want to go about getting dates~~

Maybe all this time fate- wich he tells himself he doesn't believe in but kind of sort of does- was really trying to direct him to _Yugi_ instead....

Ok, this was it, he was going to ask her out, he was going to get a date with one of these hot twins or fucking die trying

"Hi,"

Jerking her head up, Yugi beamed like a ray of sunlight at him, opening her mouth to speak but getting cut off as soon as Seto spoke again

"I know this sounds crazy and we don't even know eachother and we're clearly rivals but I really... really would be honored if you .. if you would go on a date with me,"

Grinning again, the cheerleader finally spoke up- ... in a deep, baritone voice that could rival a lion's roar

"I would love to, I've been wondering when you were going to ask me out Seto,"

And before Seto could speak- or even collect his jaw from the floor--

_"'Tem!! Bud, we gotta go!"_

Atem sprang up to his feet, practically bouncing as he spun on his heel and ran off, waving to Seto the entire time

"See you later!! I'm on!"

.....

..........

_MOTHER **FUCKER**_


	3. Webshooters Aren't The Only Things You're Making Go "Thwip"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "That Spidey Life" by Nerdist- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKW7NSgiCFo  
> "Joker" by Hillywood- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Pv1NoUaCY

Typically, Seto _never_ watched the competition

Not only did he see it as a useless waste of time when he could potentially be practicing or warming up, but he also found it to actually do more harm than good, it made his squad-mates more nervous to see what their competitors were doing, and there was never any need to lower their chances by getting nervous

But this....

_This_ routine he _had_ to see

He was right, incidentally, Atem _was_ dressed as a homage to Spiderman- all of his teammates were

They were doing a routine to Nerdist's "That Spidey-Life"... and they were _damn good_ at it

Atem was so light-weight and flexible that he was being tossed around like a papper airplane, doing tricks and stunts in mid-air, easily showing up the other flyers, and their dance routine was... _cute_

Fuck it was _adorable_

Everyone was so fluid in their movements that they looked like professional dancers, but Atem especially was.... _insanely_ talented

And whenever he wasn't doing stunts, he was in the front of the rest of the group for dance peices, and Seto honestly _still_ wasn't convinced that Atem _wasn't_ a ballerina or a dancer of some kind and just did cheer on the side, those movements....

They were just too highly skilled for someone who didn't have professional dance training

His nails were digging into his palms, hard enough to hurt, heart pounding, and for the first time in ... _years_ , for the first time since he was a teenager, he actually felt _nervous_ about going on...

Not only because of the talent the other team displayed, but because of the similarities to their own

Atem's squad was doing a Spiderman parody from a popular YouTube channel

Seto's squad was doing a Suicide Squad parody from a popular YouTube channel

...

What was this supposed to be, irony?

This couldn't end well

When Atem and his crew were done with their routine, they headed back to the waiting area through the same passage Seto was currently watching from, with Atem at the back of the group, pausing in front of him and smirking up at the taller man with a mischievous smirk

"So, you like the routine?"

"It was..... it was good, yes,"

How could he possibly say "it was the best thing I've ever seen and I _almost_ hope you win"?

"Sooo you saw me at the top of the pyramid?"

Was he really still using that terminology?

Weren't tops supposed to be referred to as flyers now?

"I did,"

"Good, then this will make sense," he noted, leaning up on the tips of his toes and grinning from ear to ear

"The pyramid isn't the only thing I top,"

And then, seemingly in a flash, Atem was gone, and Seto was internally screaming

But ofcourse that wasn't the end of it, because Seto's life couldn't be that easy

His team was next on stage, and as soon as they stepped out- chaos ensued

Or atleast, what Seto _thought_ was chaos

"Oh!! Lena is here!! How.. I thought she was in California!"

Surely enough, the brunette had somehow managed to make it into the front row of the audience, no doubt having used her private jet and connections to get here overnight, she had probably called Kara from the plane

That's all what he would have done if he had been in her shoes, atleast

Kara was waving and jumping in excitement and Seto was having to push her to get into position, but then-

"See that? There's Ishizu, front row, silently judging already,"

"Wait, _that's_ your sister?? That's the hot librarian I like!"

"What? Ishizu isn't _hot_ , she's ... she's all.... _sistery_..."

"Sweetie, you're gay, what do you know?"

_Gods_ this was a disaster, this was going to be the world's biggest failure and he was going to go down in history as being the laughing stock of the Japanese National Allstar Cheer Competition

He was going to be nationally known as a failure and all he had to show for it was green fucking hair and fake diamonds in his teeth because Suicide Squad just _had_ to go there

Marik and Mai were still quietly arguing, Kara was still trying to see her girl-crush over Seto's head, and Seto was still about to lose his mind as the music started, and as the first beats began, he happened to glance over his shoulder and see the absolute _last_ thing he needed to see at that moment

Atem was watching from the spectator's section, giving him a big smile and a double thumb's up, and if Seto hadn't memorized this routine well enough to do it without even needing music, he would have _definitely_ missed a step

Luckily though, he had spent so much of his time forcing his body to know each and every step by heart, that he could easily offer Atem a small, nervous smile back and still keep perfectly in line with his step sequence

And somehow... strangely... he actually felt a bit _better_ knowing that Atem was watching and supporting him

It wasn't nerve-wracking like he had assumed it would be, it didn't make him feel anxious or irritated, he just felt... _calmer_

More at peace

So when Mai backflipped towards him for the first lift, he was able to move on with confidence, and somehow not ruin the show after all

Now with the competition actually going well, there was only one thing left he needed to worry about: The humiliating fact that he had assumed Atem was a girl just because he was in a skirt

But surely Atem hadn't noticed, right?

 

~+~

 

"You were great out there!"

The moment Seto stepped back into the area, Atem practically jumped at him, beaming from ear to ear, clearly excited, though he couldn't understand _why_ , it wasn't as though he and Atem were teammates, why would Atem care how well he did or didn't do?

"Um.. thank you..."

"Ofcourse, you deserve it," Atem smiled, his eyes practically glowing with happiness

"I'm just surprised that we had such similar ideas, what are the odds? Marvel and DC, both popular YouTube parodies..."

"Yeah I've made that connection before," he noted with a small snort

"It just goes to show that great minds really do think alike," Atem winked playfully, giving him a teasing nudge

"I suppose so..."

"Come with me," the smaller cheerleader demanded suddenly, taking Seto by the hand and starting to drag him out of the holding room

"Wait, where are we going?"

Not that he was necessarily protesting, but more.... _curious_

"Are we even allowed to leave? If we're leaving, let's go back to the hotel for a few minutes, I have a little gift for you, it isn't much but-"

"Oh my ... you have a gift for me? What is it!?"

"It really isn't a big del, just.... a little balloon shaped like a dolphin... I know you like them so-"

"I LOVE them, that was so thoughtfull of you, what made you think to do that? I mean it isn't like you could have known I was going to be here.... right?"

"No I had no idea you were a cheerleader, you don't really seem like the type, but I saw your sister and just thought-"

"Woah wait a moment, wait wait... what sister? I don't have a sister,"

Now Seto was the one who was confused

"Your sister? Yugi? I saw her last night with that dumb blonde-"

"Ok, first of all I don't have a sister, and second of all who are you calling a 'dumb blonde'!?"

... Well this was bad

"But.. but if you don't have a sister then who is that Yugi chick!?"

"Wait wait _wait_... this is all too much," Atem said with a frustrated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut, clearly annoyed

Seto knew the feeling

Atem tugged him suddenly into the locker room a few doors down, sitting down on one of the benches and heaving a quiet, slow sigh

"Firstly, Yugi is not my sister, _he_ is my best freind, we just happen to look very similar,"

Oh this was _so_ bad

"Second, how _dare_ you insult my freind!? Especially without even knowing him!"

So, _so_ bad

"And third, be honest with me, when you asked me out, did you know it was me, or did you think it was my so-called 'sister'?"

_**SO BAD!!!!** _

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit maybe he could talk his way out of this

"Ok... first, you can't blame me for assuming you two are siblings, you said yourself that you two look 'very similar' and I only got a glimpse of him from behind, plus he's even shorter than you are, wich I didn't really know was possible,"

Shit, Atem looked offended, had he said something wrong?

"I don't think you can really blame me for thinking you two were related, but... I just assumed he was a girl because he's smaller and less muscular and in a dress, wich was wrong of me, and I'm sorry,"

He seemed to look atleast a _little_ less offended, that was a good sign, right?

"You may continue,"

".. Ok, second... I have been trying to ask you out since the moment we met but that fucking 'freind' of your's has gotten in my way each and every time! Can you really blame me for being annoyed with him?"

"Perhaps not, but that's still no excuse to insult him, Joey is a good freind of mine, and do you know _why_ he's always around? Because I can't drive, and he's kind enough to help me, he's also in school to become a veterinarian so he is _far_ from 'dumb',"

Ah... yeah, this did sort of make him come off like the bad guy here....

".. You're right, I'm sorry, I'm frustrated but I shouldn't take that out on a total stranger," ~~in public~~

"... Go on,"

Seto started to fidget, no longer able to maintain eye contact as he stared at the floor

".... For the third point..... I .. I have been wanting to ask you out since the _moment_ we met, but things just kept getting in the way, mostly the- .. your... _freind_... and then your injury-"

"Wait, what injury?" Atem asked with clear surprise, wich certainly took Seto off guard

".. Oh, I just assumed- .. were you sick? Your freind said you weren't at the gym on Friday because you were 'recovering',"

Though to be fair, he had never said from _what_ , Seto had just assumed it was an injury but maybe Atem had been sick, or maybe it hadn't even been physical, maybe he was recovering from some kind of emotional issue like an anxiety attack or a bad break up or something...

"Oh.. right... that..." Atem muttered under his breath, his expression suddenly falling grim

"... What were you-"

"You were in the middle of saying something?"

Evidently Atem didn't want to talk about it

"... Right, I've been trying to ask you out for a week and it just kept not happening... when I saw your.. 'sister' .. I assumed maybe it was.. I don't know, I just.. I was afraid that I would never get a chance with you, when I saw essentially what I thought to be a female version of you I acted on impulse on the hopes that maybe being with 'her' was .. meant to be, as stupid as that sounds,"

"So you not only gave up on me without even asking merely because I missed a single day of seeing you, you also went after someone who looks like me assuming that we would be the same, and worst of all, you saw someone who was CLEARLY identical to me dressed in a skirt and just ASSUMED it was my twin sister instead of assuming it was me?"

....

Maybe it would hurt less if Seto just carved out his eyes with a spoon......

"To be fair, I NEVER would have made the assumption that you even _had_ a sister if not for your freind who you admit looks like you, I had never seen you wear anything feminine until now and last night I saw Yugi in a dress, then you in a skirt, I thought with missing the gym you would be too injured to perform a cheer routine the NEXT. DAY. and I never even had any indication that you were a cheerleader to begin with, I shouldn't have assumed your gender based on what you were wearing, and I'm sorry for that, truly, but.. I didn't assume that your 'sister' was the same as you are, I just hoped I would like her half as much as I like you because after a week of absolutely REDICULOUS cockblocks I really ... thought that the universe was against us or something, I had no indication that you were even coming back to that gym, I'd never seen you before his week after all.... but you're right, I gave up too early and I regret that, is there any way you could forgive me? Anything I can do to .. prompt .. that date out of you?"

Atem was quiet for a moment, before his lips slowly curved up into a grin and he held his hand out to gently take Seto's and give it a squeeze

"I think we can work something out, how about we make a deal? I will forgive all of your transgressions up to now, and in return, you will not only promise to try your hardest not to stop making stupid assumptions, but also that you will lend me yourself and a few of your best cheerleaders for a project next weekend,"

"Absolutely, you have my word,"

Seto hadn't even asked what that "project" was, he had just been so eager to get back into Atem's good graces that he told himself he didn't care

He would come to regret that decision

 

~+~

 

"Hey, where have you guys been?"

Seto only shrugged, swallowing tightly, trying not to blush, he could still taste Atem in his mouth, it was making his heart race with a mixture of happy excitement and dreaded anxiety

He and Atem had spent ... a little bit _too_ long in the locker room, exchanging orgasms and making out, and now that they had walked back into the holding room he felt a little bit ... _exposed_ , as if somehow, everyone could tell what they had been doing

"They were sucking eachother off in the locker room," Mai said casually

And in that moment, Seto knew exactly what possums felt like when they froze in the middle of a panic, playing dead

He wished he could play dead

It would be mercifull

"What? What the fuck Mai!?"

"Well you're both disheveled, your eyes are a little glazed over, faces a little red, mouths a little swollen... and you've still got a bit of his come on the corner of your lip, Hot Shot,"

With that, she handed over her compact mirror, wich Seto took immediately an- _oh dear gods....._

"... Well it's a good thing you weren't closeted," Atem noted as he slowly sat down a few feet away from Seto's squad

"Ok, changing the subject," Duke said suddenly, and a little loudly

"My new freinds here were just telling me that Tristan has a lacrosse game next weekend,"

"Who's Tristan?" Seto asked with raised eyebrows, his eyes breifly scanning the other group and making note of the fact that they were all wearing uniforms matching Atem's

So that was his squad then....

"The hot lacrosse player I keep telling you about?"

Oh, so that was his name

"He's got a game next weekend and the Magicians will be down a few cheerleaders, so I volunteered some of us to join them!"

"I sincerely hope you aren't including _me_ in 'some of us',"

Duke looked.. more than a little disappointed with that, and if it hadn't been for exactly what the guy was asking for, Seto would actually feel guilty for his cold response

"Well... they really need more bottoms and-"

"Don't worry," Atem said suddenly as he rose to his feet and wrapped an arm around Seto's shoulder

"Seto has already committed to this and will have no problems coming through with it, plus, he's a _great_ bottom I'm sure,"

Seto wipped his head around, staring at Atem in absolute offense

When had he ever-!?

....

O-Oh..... oh no.... _oh **no**_

"May I speak with you in private for a moment?" he seethed out, standing suddenly and glaring down at the other cheerleader

"Hurry back 'Tem! They're gonna call us to announce scores soon!" Joey shouted after the two as they disappeared around a corner, into a more private section of the room where Seto could speak to Atem without being overheard

"THAT'S what I agreed to!?"

"It isn't my fault that you didn't ask what you were signing up for," Atem pointed out with a frown

And ok, he was right, but that didn't make Seto any less frustrated!

"I'm not doing that,"

"Then you're backing out of our deal and our little play in the locker room was a one time thing?"

"What!? Are you really ending a relationship over something this petty!?"

"Firstly, we BARELY know eachother and have never even been on a date, a few snarky conversations in a gym and mutual blowjobs in a locker room do not make a relationship, and secondly, I am not 'ending' this because you aren't willing to cheer at my freind's game, I'm 'ending' it because you made me a promise and you're breaking it immediately, Ii find that to be a poor quality in a person,"

How was Seto turning into the bad guy here!?

"Look, I will do ANYTHING else you ask of me, just not that,"

"Really? So you'll go outside and forfeit the competition?"

Seto's expression tensed, inhaling deeply and biting his lip

"You're not serious,"

"No, I'm not, but you said anything, in reality, it's not about what I want you to do in order to forgive why I'm angry with you, it's about what YOU want to do to make YOURSELF feel better,"

Seto paused, swallowing tightly and looking down

He wanted to argue, he wanted so BADLY to argue, but he knew that if he did Atem would just look like he was right and ...

And for some inexplicable reason that he just couldn't explain, he wasn't willing to let Atem go over something so stupid, he wanted Atem, he _liked_ Atem, and Seto... Seto pretty much never liked anyone

He couldn't explain it, it was as though there was something... _otherworldly_ about him

And Seto wanted more of that, he wanted a taste of it

He wanted _Atem_

".... Fine, but I want you to fully understand that I would _never_ do anything like this for anyone else, this a very special thing I'm doing for you,"

"I understand," Atem snorted back, rolling his eyes playfully

"I don't understand _why_ , but I understand that it is for some reason,"

Seto looked down, biting the inside of his cheek and sucking slowly, his heart racing, he felt sick to his stomach, but .. he wanted to answer Atem, he wanted to make sure that he understood that Seto wasn't just being an ass...

"I made a vow, years ago, and I'm breaking it for you, that means something to me,"

"You made a vow... to not cheer at a lacrosse game?" Atem asked slowly, clearly confused

"No, I made.. well.. I guess it's three vows... firstly, I vowed never to cheer for anyone or any reason other than my own, secondly, that I would absolutely NEVER cheer at a sports event, and third and most importantly, that I would never ever under any terms EVER cheer at a school event,"

Atem was quiet for a moment, biting his lip as he leaned up and very gently placed his hand against Seto's cheek, tracing his fingers against his temple

"So much trauma.... I'd love to just... crack your skull open.... see what's swimming around in there..."

That.. that sounded really .. really creepy and Seto was really hoping it was more for the cute "I'm actually a therapist" way and not the disturbing "I'm actually Hannibal Lecter" way...

"Oh, are you involved in psychology?"

"No," Atem said softly, gently stroking his fingers through Seto's hair, almost seeming to be in admiration

"No I'm not,"

WELL-

"Hey guys! They're calling us out for the judging!! Hurry up!!" Duke shouted over the noise and bustle of the slowly emptying holding room

"Well, good luck," Atem said with complete sincerity, his eyes warm and loving as he leaned up and pecked Seto on the cheek

"May the best squad win!"

"Yeah," the CEO said slowly, watching as Atem raced off to join his squad

"I hope that they do,"

 

~+~

 

Atem's squad won first place, and Seto's won second

Normally, that would have utterly _enraged_ Seto, that anyone but his team had won first place

But... strangely, he was actually ok with it

Atem and his squad deserved to win, and Seto was... honestly happy for them

He was kind of surprised at himself actually, but ... he was just happy that Atem was happy and that he had gotten the recognition he so rightly deserved

"Congratulations,"

"Thank you! Congrats on second place,"

Normally that comment would have been annoying to Seto, but this time it actually sounded.... sincere

He appreciated it, in fact

"Thanks,"

"Listen.. when are you heading back to Domino?"

"Not until Monday, I have a meeting I have to handle here anyway,"

Sure the company had found it a little odd that Seto wanted to meet on a Sunday but when explaining it was part of a vacation weekend that he would be taking they seemed to understand

No one had to know that "vacation" involved a cheer competition

"I see, I have to take a small trip tommorrow anyway, I won't be back until late Monday afternoon... meet me at the gym at six? We can go over plans for the cheer session on Saturday at Tristan's game, and as for the date..."

Atem paused, smiling softly at him as he leaned up to wrap his arms around Seto's neck

"I have something special I want to do with you, but I can't do it until after Monday, is Tuesday night ok?"

He didn't even bother to grace that with an immediate answer, instead lifting him up and holding him gently by the thighs

"Tuesday is great,"

"Perfect, now one other thing.... this green hair of your's, how long is it going to last?"

Ah... hell... he'd forgotten all about that shit....

"As soon as I wash it next, don't worry,"

"No no, I was just thinking... I kind of like it, maybe you could keep it a little bit longer?"

"... Really? The cabbage hair does it for you?" Seto cringed back, causing Atem to roll his eyes

"Don't say it like that, I want something with it, just... keep it in until Monday evening, or hell, bring a wig, I don't care, and wear your uniform too,"

With that, Atem hopped down, pecked a kiss on his cheek one last time, and all but sprinted off in the direction of his squad

And much like usual, Atem left Seto in a state of utter confusion


	4. Rock Your Body On Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheer song attempts in order:
> 
> Call Me Beep Me- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIgLqN_rAXU  
> I'll Make A Man Out Of You- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVcLIfSC4OE  
> Fox On The Run- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Bn3R4gqEQ  
> I Want You Back- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGDyAb6pePo  
> Sunflower- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApXoWvfEYVU  
> Too Much Is Never Enough- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD6sTDH9Zdc  
> History Maker- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSrrRaVyQHQ  
> Hollaback Girl- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgjkth6BRRY  
> We're All In This Together- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrbUfYSt0E  
> Supernatural Parody- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCZy8cAgBlM  
> Bat Blood- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwgdkQUWg6g  
> Look What You Made Me Brew- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p43vsrE2a90  
> Spellblock Tango- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAUZIw95ueM  
> The Name Game- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qEhGeLb6A  
> We're All In This Together- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvU4TMyHwdc  
> Warm Bodies Parody- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd3UBZysWTw
> 
> It doesn't quite appear in the fic but the Beetlejuice routine in question is "Jump In The Line" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic87SfqQAAM

Waiting for Monday evening was like watching grass grow

Seto was so used to getting everything he wanted as soon as he wanted it- from products to services to meetings to information- that having to really, really wait for something- or rather, some _one_ \- was alot more hair-raising than he had first believed it would be

And by the time it finally arrived, he was actually waiting by the windows of the gym in anticipation of seeing Atem

And the moment he saw him?

Excitement flooded through him, he jumped to his feet like a puppy and even opened the door for the other cheerleader- though in all honesty it was less out of politeness and more out of excitement

"Well, hello to you too," Atem laughed cheerfully, his lips twitching up into a little grin as he stepped into gym

"How have you been the last couple of days?"

"Fine," Seto answered a bit briskly, noting that Atem had worn his uniform as well, but there was nothing special seeming to be done with his hair or make up, he wondered breifly if there was some specific reason Atem had wanted him in his costume, or if it was just a personal preference...

"I've missed you, have you missed me?"

Atem could have been teasing, and with the smirk on his face, he probably was, but Seto _had_ missed him, as stupid as it sounded, and he was rather quick to let him know that

"I have," he agreed a bit quietly, his face a little red as he followed the other cheerleader, watching him put his things in his locker before following him down to the second gym

"I'm glad that you're back, I mean, that you're ... here again,"

_Here, in my life_ , he wanted to say, but he resisted the urge

"Well I'm glad to be back," Atem smiled sweetly, taking Seto's hand and giving it a small squeeze, making Seto's heart leap... and drawing him back to the question he had been asking himself since Saturday

What were they?

Boyfreinds? "Dating"? Freinds with benefits? In that weird place where they had sexual contact but have yet to have a date so they aren't dating yet but also aren't NOT dating and therefore are in the purgatorial hell of Schrodinger's Boyfreinds where they won't know if they're dating for another three dates and a fuck!?

Seto was, ofcourse, entirely unaware of how any of this worked, and the closest things he had to an understanding of how crushes worked were Miraculous Ladybug and Killing Eve, probably

Considering he had no desire to don a skin-tight leotard or stab Atem, he wasn't too sure where that left him

"Seto?"

Blinking, he turned his attention back to Atem, who was staring at him as if waiting for an answer

"Um... what?"

"I asked if you'd eaten yet today,"

Oh... Seto hadn't even heard him

"I- .. yeah, earlier,"

".. Alright, but 'earlier' could mean an hour ago or it could mean 'breakfast' so what 'earlier' are you?"

Why did Seto get the strong feeling that Atem wasn't about to like this answer?

".... What does an apple count as?"

Atem deadpanned, his face slowly crinkling up, clearly displeased

".... Right, when we're done here, I'm buying you a pizza,"

Oh... but he didn't have to-

"But you don't have to-"

"If I buy it you'll eat it, right? So I'm buying it,"

.....

So where did forcefully buying someone a pizza fall on the dating scale then?

"Alright, I rented out this part of the gym for an hour so let's not waste any more of it hm? This is the routine I have in mind, let me know what you think,"

With that, Atem set up his iPod with some travel speakers, and turned on.... _the Kim Possible theme song_

And before he could ... even BEGIN to process that this was on the man's iPod, Atem started doing a routine that fucking _looked_ like it had come out of Kim Possible

The way he sprung around the room, backflips and summersalts, handsprings and handstands, cartweels and roundoffs, flipping and twirling and spinning and leaping and jumping and _FUCK_!

All the wile, as Seto tried desperately to so much as catch sight of what move was what, he couldn't help noticing the way Atem's skirt swished around his thighs, or the expression of utter joy on his face, or the way his shirt was riding up everytime he ended up upside down.....

Seto swallowed tightly, his heart pounding

_Damn_

Atem finished in a perfect split and Seto felt ill

"So!" he panted quietly, his chest heaving, his hands still in the air, grinning like a dazzled middle-schooler

"What did you think?"

"I thought that was utterly inhuman and there is no way in HELL anyone can learn that in a week, I don't know if anyone could learn that in a LIFETIME,"

"But... but it's Kim Possible... the most famous cheerleader of them all..."

Seto somewhat doubted that but he wasn't about to say it

"But no one can learn it," he stressed slowly

"I don't even know how _you_ learned it, but it's too fast, we can't learn it in a week," or ever, probably

"Alright then, what do you suggest?" Atem replied briskly, finally pulling himself back up to his feet and walking over to the sidelines where Seto was currently standing

Swallowing a bit tightly, his face a little pink, Seto reasoned that this was his chance to play a song, so he grabbed his cell phone, hooked it up to the speakers, and pressed play

_Let's get down to business, to defeat, the huns!_

"Oh my god you really are Li Shang, you couldn't figure out the gender of your big gay crush and you're obsessed with this song,"

... WHAT!?

"But you were the one originally listening to it!!"

"And you're the one who's referenced it twice, but that's ok! I like it! We can use the parody version Yugi and I wrote!"

.......

Gods he was hesitating to ask this but- ....

".. Parody version?"

"Yes! _Date A Dude_! We've only done the chorus so far but listen to this, with 'date a dude' harmonizing in the background ok? _He must be tall as a red-wood tree, with an ass you could bounce a dime on, with the pecs of Li Shang on steroids, sexier than Chris Hemsworth playing Thor!_ What do you think?"

If Seto's expression was anything to go by, he thought that "song" should never see the light of day

"... I think the original is still better,"

Atem rolled his eyes, giving a slight shrug

"Whatever you say, but I think it's too slow for a cheer, it's great, obviously, but a cheer song needs to be a little more upbeat, what do you think of... this one?"

Just as Seto's choice was ending, Atem started up another song of his own, and this one was.. definitely more upbeat

"Is this one from Guardians Of The Galaxy 2?"

"Yep, what do you think?"

Seto considered it for a moment before shaking his head, moving to stop the song on the iPod

"I like it, but I don't think we can compose a great cheer for it, what about this one?"

_"I Want You Back"_ was a cute song that would be easy to cheer to and it would maintain the fandom theme with it having come from the first Guardians Of The Galaxy, it'd be alot less complicated to pull off than something like the routines at the competition too, so they wouldn't have to worry so much about only having a week to learn it

"Too simple,"

Well there went that suggestion

"If we're sticking with superheros, how about _Sunflower_?"

Sure enough, before Seto could even ask, the Post Malone song was playing, and Atem was doing some sort of little... swaying, jazzy... _dance_ , that Seto assumed he thought was cool

Atleast it made him laugh though

"Ok, no, no..." the CEO insisted, taking a step forward and taking Atem by the hand, twirling him a couple of times, swaying along with him, because he couldn't help himself

"You can't cheer to this song,"

" _Then you're left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya',_ "

"No no, and you can't do Spiderman twice in a row-"

" _You're a sunflower,_ "

"-even if it is two different Spidermen-"

" _I think your love would be too much,_ "

Atem was pouting now, he was doing this on purpose

Damn him

Seto just huffed, cupping his face, still swaying a little, and giving him a slow, gentle kiss, because screw whatever dating rules there were, or ... however these relationship things worked, the mood was here, and he wasn't going to pass it up again

After a moment, Atem reached up, his hand curling gently around Seto's wrist as he reluctantly pulled away, leaning up to kiss his cheek

"This song is alot less romantic than people think it is,"

"I didn't know anyone thought it was romantic,"

" _I think your love would be too much,_ " Atem hummed softly, in beat with the music, just like before, nipping Seto's ear gently

"According to Florence + The Machine... _Too Much Is Never Enough_ ,"

Atem leaned back, eyebrows raised, clearly surprised

"... Ok, that was a good musical reference, I respect that, but... what about the cheer? We still have to figure this out,"

Ah.. damn... he was moving away...

And he was right, wich was, possibly, even worse

"Well, do we have to do a fandom theme? What about this one?"

Just recently Kara had been obsessed with _"History Maker"_ , apparently some figure skater was using it and she was in love

Even Seto had to admit, he kind of wanted to do something with it, he wasn't totally sure if cheer was the sport for a song like this, but he wanted to try anyway

"Oh! I know that song! Yugi's cousin in Hasetsu is using that in his figure skating program!"

.. Wait a minute.. Yugi's cousin-?

"Wait so-"

"And if we aren't doing fandom, we're doing Hollaback Girl, that's a rule I have,"

" _Absolutely not_ ," Seto huffed strictly, pinching the bridge of his nose

It was a shame... he really liked this song, but he supposed it may suit ice skating better than cheerleading...

"Well then, I guess it's back to fandom now isn't it?"

"You're so annoying sometimes, why do I like you?" Seto huffed, rolling his eyes, though he didn't mean a word of it, he knew _exactly_ why he liked Atem

...

Ok, well, actually, he .. _didn't_ know why he liked Atem, he couldn't put it into words, but... he knew that he did and that was all that mattered, right?

"Because I'm cute, now suggest something before I propose the greatest cheer song of all time- _We're All In This Together_ ,"

Judging by the look on Seto's face, he clearly wasn't a fan

Not that there was anything wrong with Highschool Musical, but it was ... the wrong kind of camp for his particular brand of bi

Plus after three months of having that song jammed into his ears nonstop because of Mokuba, he couldn't even look at a wildcat anymore without shuddering

"What about Hillywood's Supernatural parody? The first one?"

"Sweetie it's ok, you can say 'Taylor Swift'," Atem teased playfully, stepping past the other cheerleader to scroll through Seto's phone and pull the song up, nodding along a little in consideration

"It's good... but I don't know, something about the pace isn't quite striking the cheer nerve,"

... _Cheer nerve_....??

"Besides, if we're doing a Taylor Swift parody, what about Bat Blood? Think about it, you could be Batman, I could be Catwoman," he suggested with wiggling eyebrows

Huh...

That... really wasn't a bad suggestion, and when Atem actually started playing the song for him, he had to admit that there was a definite cheer quality to it

"Ooooor.... we could be Harley and Ivy...." Atem suggested, slowly walking up behind him, letting his fingers trace playfull lines and patterns along the other's back, clearly trying to tempt him...

"I still don't know if the smartest idea is to do _another_ Batman-verse routine right after I did Suicide Squad, wich was largely made up of Batman's rogues gallery,"

"Um, excuse me, Suicide Squad was not 'largely' made up of Batman's rogues, it had Joker and Harley, I wouldn't call that 'largely'-"

"Bigger picture please?"

Atem was pouting, Seto couldn't blame him, he kind of wanted to do Bat Blood too... and in fairness, he supposed, it wasn't like this was a competition, it was just some little sports game that only a few people would ever see, it wasn't that important...

But still, cheer was an art form like anything else, and as an artist, he wanted to make **every** appearance the greatest he could manage

"How about we put this one on the backburner? If we can't figure out something else in thirty minutes, we'll do Bat Blood,"

"Fair enough," Atem agreed with a nod, leaning back on his heels, apparently he had figured that it was Seto's turn to make a suggestion

Again

"We could do 'Look What You Made Me Brew'? Disney villains,"

He could picture that pretty well, and he .. kind of loved the idea of Atem wearing an Evil Queen inspired cheer costume...

That would be _gorgeous_ , and the make up, gods.... the _make up_....

Fuck... just thinking about that was making his heart beat faster, his skin flush a little, he _might_ have a bit of a thing for wickedness...

Oh, _Wicked_ , that wasn't a bad idea-

"It's too slow, besides, if we're doing Disney villains, we would _have_ to do Spellblock Tango,"

" _That's_ too slow,"

Great for dance, not so much for cheer, atleast in his opinion, he couldn't picture trying to cheer to it, not to mention they didn't have more than two minutes to perform, and "Spellblock Tango" really wasn't something you could cut the ends from like alot of songs....

"But I like the spooky-camp vibe, what if we did The Name Game? Jessica Lange's version? I mean, I hate the song, but that scene from American Horror Story was fucking _iconic_ ,"

"Aw, my little horror gay, I think that reference would go over the heads of most people at a college lacrosse game though,"

Seto disagreed, he didn't think Atem was giving enough credit to the horror fans of the world, but he supposed it might be a little difficult in terms of making the references work if the costumes weren't close enough to the originals, and that would be... _difficult_... to have cheer outfits that blended cheer and the costumes closely enough in this case...

Damn, that would have been cool though...

"Wait, I've got it!! _We Are Monster High_!! Think about it Seto! Cute pink and black uniforms, cute monster make up, it's an ACTUAL cheer song... and it's from when Monster High was still the best thing in the universe!"

"Might be a little bit _too_ camp for me,"

Atem huffed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest

"It isn't like I'm asking you to wear a skirt,"

"That isn't- .. is that what you think this is about?"

"Well why else wouldn't you want to do it?"

Seto shrugged a little, fidgeting and moving to sit down on one of the mats, his eyes on the floor

"Don't get me wrong, the theme is cute, and I even like Monster High, but I just- .. I can't ... get into the 'pep cheer', it's not my thing, it never has been, and it never will be, don't forget that the only reason I'm even going through with this bullshit is because I like you so damn much, if I didn't, I wouldn't be here,"

"Well if you hate pep cheer so much then why did you even get into this sport to begin with? I'm not criticizing, I'm just... legitimately curious,"

More staring at the floor, wich was apparently enough to actually make Atem rather... concerned...

"I'm not going to laugh, if that's what you're worried about," he added a second later, moving to sit down on the mat next to his ... whatever the hell Seto was to him at this point

"My mom was a competitive cheerleader, I don't know if she did the pep thing or not, but .. I remember seeing her in a competition when I was young, I always wanted to be just like her, and when she died I wanted to be a cheerleader to honor her, but.. ofcourse I was adopted by the living, breathing, embodiment of toxic masculinity, so cheer was no longer just about my mother, it was also about kicking Gozaburo in the psychological balls as hard as I can, as often as I can, ofcourse with him being dead it's almost redundant but I like to think that somehow the message is coming across anyway,"

Judging by the look on Atem's face, he was... definitely not expecting that

"Oh," he mumbled quietly, chewing his lip and looking down at the floor himself

"I .. don't have any personal stories like that to explain my involvement, for me it was always about fun and freindship, Joey and our other freind Tea` joined the squad in highschool to support Tristan at his games, I figured I might as well join too, I ended up being really good at it and when I graduated I didn't want to stop, so Joey and I moved on to doing all-star competitions, but .. pep cheer is where I started, I never even thought that there were cheerleaders out there who _didn't_ start with it... may I ask why you're so against it?"

"Sorry, you must reach Level Twenty of Relationship Goals to unlock that baggage," Seto teased dryly, giving a quiet sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose

"Well.. let me know when I get there, I'll be glad to unlock it, whatever it is," Atem said sincerely, placing a hand gently on Seto's back

"Any other ideas for the routine?"

"What about... the Warm Bodies parody Hillywood did? With Lady Gaga's 'Monster'?"

"Oh, I like that!" Atem grinned, climbing to his feet

... Was this it? Had they finally found a winner? Was this what they were doing?

Seto almost expected fireworks

"You do? Thanks,"

Atem nodded slowly, staring down at him for a moment and reaching down to ruffle his hair a little, making note at the fact that Seto had apparently done as he'd asked and worn a green wig, apparently he couldn't keep the dye in any longer

Oh well, the wig would be fine, Atem had been planning to put on a little Harley Quinn make up for Seto and take pictures, but it was getting so late now and they hadn't even composed a routine....

He'd have to ask him to wear the wig again another time

...

Although...

"Wait, I have the PERFECT idea, you're going to love it," he beamed

"What is it?" Seto asked innocently, head tilting as he glanced up

"Well, I'll give you a hint, you're going to have to dye your hair again..... and you can't say it three times,"

 

~+~

 

"I can't believe you got stuck with another reason to have to dye your hair,"

Seto rolled his eyes, rolling his shoulders tiredly as he took a step back to allow Atem more room to re-demonstrate the beginning of the routine for a few of his teammates, trying to keep his eyes _off_ of Mai

"I don't mind that much this time, how can a person complain about Beetlejuice?"

"You know Kaiba, for someone who tries to act so serious and mature all the time, you sure have a soft spot for camp horror..." she mused slowly, her lips twitching up into a smirk

"Or is it _Atem_ who wanted to do Beetlejuice and you just agreed because it would make him happy?"

Seto rolled his eyes, watching Atem and two of his teammates demonstrate another move to the other tops- .. _flyers_! He .. meant flyers...

"After all of the times I've talked about Tales From The Crypt, are you really questioning me?"

"... Point, I suppose I'm just surprised, that's all, you've been so adamant about what you will and won't do, since the first moment we met, now some guy comes along and asks you to do something you _absolutely_ don't want to do and yet, you do it anyway, it's just weird, that's all,"

"First- Atem isn't just 'some guy', and second, I'm not doing it out of the kindness of my cold, dead, heart if that's what you're thinking, I got roped into it, I made him a promise without knowing the terms and now I'm fucked, have you ever known me to go back on my word?"

"Oh, you're fucked alright, after Saturday, _no one_ is denying that,"

Seto wondered, in that moment, if- with enough planning- he could get away with murder...

"I guess you have a point about making promises though, you usually come through with them, the weird part is that you made a promise without knowing the terms, you're usually so anal- _ha_ \- about making sure you have every fucking detail of something laid out in front of you before agreeing to it, how did you even end up making him this promise anyway? What, was he edging you so hard you just started making promises so he"d let you come? Because if so, I'll have to remember that the next time I want something from you,"

"First of all, if you come _near_ my cock, I will break whatever part of you is closest, and second of all, there was no 'edging' involved-" unless emotional edging counted but he was pretty sure it didn't, "-and it had nothing to do with sex, NONE of it had anything to do with sex, is that really the only reason you can think of to account for anything?" he snapped irritably

"So then.... what? You're just _so_ enamored with him that you've turned into his little puppy? Willing to do _anything_ to please your master?"

~~Fuck fuck fuck none of that should sound even remotely arousing and yet-~~

"What!? No!! Look, Atem does not control me, I don't give a flying fuck what he wants, this isn't about trying to 'please' him, it's about making a dumbass mistake that I'm now paying for, and I am NOT his little puppy!! Atem does not control me, he is not in charge of me, I make my own decisions and weather or not they please Atem is really not any of my concern!!"

Ofcourse, as fate would have it, Atem chose that moment to finish his demonstration and walk up to Seto, grabbing his hand immediately

"I think it's time for a break, we'll have lunch now, if you'll let me borrow your phone, Seto, I'll order something in so we don't have to leave,"

Without even hesitating, Seto gave Atem the key to his locker

He knew that Atem's phone was low on battery, there was no need for him to waste what remained on ordering food when Seto's phone was fully charged

Atem could bring the phone back, Seto would unlock it, and then let him order whatever he wanted

"Thank you sweetheart, I'll be right back," Atem offered with a bright smile, giving his ... _whatever Seto was_ a kiss on the cheek before heading out of the lower level of the gym and towards the locker room

Seto smiled, feeling his heart fluttering a little in sheer happiness as he watched Atem leave

... Much to Mai's amusement

".... Riiiight, would you like a little hot chocolate for that _wipped_ cream?"

That was a terrible pun, Seto refused to acknowledge it ~~for more reasons than one~~


	5. Like A Wolf Howling At The Moon (I Will Always Worship You)

"Are you going to dye your hair again for this? Or are you just wearing the wig this time?"

"Wig, that hair dye is a pain in the ass and I don't like having to wear a hat until it washes out,"

Seto liked to make a statement, but green hair was _not_ the kind of statement he wanted to make

Kara nodded in consideration, taking a sip of her drink as Atem pouted from across from her

"You're not dying it again? Awww... here I was hoping to dye it for you..."

"But- .. but _you're_ wearing a wig," Seto pointed out

"Yes but that's more because I don't have the length for Lydia's hair, I'd dye it if I didn't need extensions,"

Seto's nose wrinkled, head tilting a little

He really didn't want to go through the trouble of dying it, but... there was something that seemed oddly intimate- in a weirdly domestic way- about letting Atem dye his hair that sounded _appealing_...

"'Food's here,"

Glancing up at the blonde carrying the boxes of food, Seto watched in minor annoyance as Atem sprang to his feet and rushed to help

He wasn't sure why, but there was something about the closeness Atem had to Joey that just.... bothered him

Yes, now he knew with 100% certainty that the two of them weren't romantically linked- and never had been- and that Joey was actually in a relationship with the Atem-look-a-like, Yugi, who Seto had breifly seen at the hotel last weekend, but there was still something about the way they interacted that left him feeling weirdly.... _territorial_

It was as if he wanted to get up and kick the guy in the nuts, then run off and fuck Atem so hard he screamed himself into muteness

It was a very strange feeling to have, Seto wasn't typically someone who was so easily... _bothered_ by people he didn't know

When he hated someone, he hated them with a burning, flaming, firey passion that would likely stay with him for the rest of eternity, but people had to actually _do_ something to make him hate them and Joey... _hadn't_

Save for being mildly annoying from the constant interruptions, he was actually a decent person

He was nice and humorous and he _obviously_ adored Atem and did everything he could to help him when he needed it but.....

But there was just something there that crawled under Seto's skin and he couldn't place it

"What'd I miss?"

"Atem was just offering to dye his boyfreind's hair," one of Atem's teammates, a dark-skinned brunette in a baseball hat, who's name Seto couldn't remember, prompted

Boyfreind?

_Boyfreind_!?

Baseball Hat Guy said Seto was Atem's boyfreind, were they boyfreinds?!

"... Oh yeah?"

Now why did Joey seem bothered by that?

"Ya' really think that's a good idea 'Tem?" the blonde asked slowly as he and Atem set the food down on the bleachers in front of everyone

They were currently using the college gym, as procured by the lacrosse player who started this bullshit

Seto had wanted to just use the private gym he and Atem ~~and Joey~~ used, but as Atem kept pointing out, it was too small

Seto knew that, and he knew this was the only place they could practice indoors- a necessity at the moment considering it was raining outside, because apparently even the fucking weather had it out for him- but he still hated it

"Why wouldn't it be?" Atem asked innocently, settling down comfortably with his food next to Seto

"Well- .. 'cause... ya' know... the smell... it would probably bother ya', 'cause .. ya' know... _the smell_?"

Atem paused, his chopsticks half-way into a box of noodles as some sort of realization dawned over him

"Oh.. right..... no, you're right, that... you're right Seto, that would be asking too much of you, we'll just get you a wig,"

.. What?

What the hell kind of reaction was _that_!?

He had never seen Atem back down from anything, and for such a rediculous reason...

Did Atem have some kind of health issue that he needed to know about? Something the smell of hair dye would impact?

He remembered suddenly about that entire "recovery" debacle from last week

Maybe Atem _was_ sick...

Or maybe he there was some other reason that he shouldn't be using hair dye and Joey, being a good freind, was trying to come up with a good excuse for Atem to use to get out of the offer he had irresponsibly made...

He didn't know, but now he was really starting to feel concerned

He swallowed tightly, biting down on his tongue as he slowly opened up his own to-go box

He could feel the anxiety bubbling up inside of him, the sudden fear settling under his skin that Atem-who he was feeling so extremely attached to- had some sort of long lasting health condition, that he might be-

"What the hell are you eating?"

Blinking, Seto glanced over, startling a little when he found Atem's face to be barely inches away from his own, looking at his food over his shoulder

"Um- .. a salad...?"

" _That_ tiny thing is your lunch? Sweetie... _no_ , a _rabbit_ couldn't stay sustained on that,"

Glancing at his food for himself, Seto only shrugged

He had never been much of a food person, and he was the type who starved his feelings rather than eating them

Being a state of near perpetual stress, that "starving feelings" thing tended to happen more days than not, he just didn't eat much

"I'm going to make you a lunch box tommorrow and if you don't eat it, I'm going to strangle you, it's a grave insult not to eat the bento your girlfreind makes for you after all,"

Seto, who had at this point taken a sip of his own drink, promptly choked

Everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and whatever small conversations they were having to stare pointedly at Seto, who was still sputtering a bit as he tried to correct the poorly swallowed soda

"Excuse me, his _what?_ " Duke snickered, clearly _delighted_ at this bullshit

"Oh, yeah, Seto thought I was a girl when he asked me out,"

_GODDAMMIT_

"He.... what?" Marik asked slowly, stifling a snicker

"Yeah, he thought I was Yugi and he thought Yugi was a girl, it's kind of a long story,"

"Did you really have to do that?" Seto snapped in annoyance

"Yep,"

"Are you ever going to let this go?"

"Nope,"

Seto's fingers twitched, frustration and- much more significantly- _humiliation_ flooding through him

"Wow, just when I thought you couldn't possibly be a bigger doofus, you go and pull a fucking Shang,"

Suddenly the urge to murder Mai had returned

"Is _everybody_ going to make that joke!?"

The room then sounded with a seemingly unanimous _"Yes"_

Fucking perfect.....

"Ok but look at the bright side, he implied you're his boyfreind!"

Gods bless Kara, she always tried to see the best in everyone and everything

.......

And she actually had a point

" _Am_ I your boyfreind?"

Atem grinned a little, his fingers gently sliding under Seto's chin, his eyes warm and seductive and ... making Seto breathe a little bit more heavily...

"Depends, will you eat what I make for you?"

Oh .. gods... why was this so sexy?!

"Y-Yes... yes .. I will..."

Atem's expression became fucking _predatory_ , his grin turning nothing short of _wolf-like_ , flashing those pretty, sharp looking teeth that Seto was _aching_ to have buried in his neck, his eyes seeming to darken, deepen....

It was a good thing Seto was sitting down, his legs were too weak to stand now anyway

" _Good boy_ , then I suppose I'll be _delighted_ to bring lunch to my _boyfreind_ tommorrow,"

Help

Seto was going to _melt_ , he was just going to sink into the ground in a bubbling, sobbing mess

_Help him_

"Well that's just fucking great, I hope you two are very happy together and have lots and lots of babies, kekkon omedeto," Marik spat bitterly, his mood clearly and quite suddenly souring

"What's the matter with you?" Mai asked, eyebrows raised as she glanced over her shoulder at him

"Oh you mean other than the fact that _everyone_ has solved their romantic hardships other than me!? Kara's dating that American, Duke and the lacrosse player can barely seem to stop humping eachother, these two are so sickeningly sweet that I'd have an easier time choking down a jar full of honey, and I don't know _what's_ going on with you and my sister but I'm pretty sure I don't _want_ to know either, meanwile I haven't even _seen_ Bakura in _WEEKS_!"

"There is nothing going on between Ishizu and I, ok? We met up after the-"

"Wait, wait.... Bakura?" Atem asked slowly, promptly cutting off Mai's defense

"Do you mean Ryou Bakura?"

"That's his name?" Marik asked in clear surprise

"I suppose so, he's got long white hair, you know him?"

Atem and his squad mates exchanged a quick, worried glance, wich was... rather confusing

Apparently everyone knew this "Ryou Bakura" and they were hesitant to admit it

Did that mean that Atem's squad was involved with the mob?

Or-

"Ryou works with me, if you'd like, I can set the two of you up in a date," Atem offered with a sudden smile

"I- .. sure, yes, I'd appreciate that,"

"Lovely, I'll let you know tommorrow when he's free," Atem said noted, setting his food down and suddenly springing to his feet

"I need to make a phone call,"

"I'll go with ya' 'Tem," Joey said suddenly, jumping up as well and immediately following him off of the bleachers and out of the gym

Ok, that was.... _weird_

_More_ than weird

And thus, as she usually did, Mai voice what everyone else was thinking

"What the hell was all _that_ about?"

 

~+~

 

"Do you want to tell me what we're doing in front of a closed library at eight o'clock at night?"

Atem looked utterly _thrilled_ , his eyes seeming to sparkle as he twirled a set of keys in front of Seto's face, stepping up to unlock the large double doors to the library

The local library was kind of a weird place, it was very old, and whereas most places in Domino were considerably modernized, the library was one of the few places that had really maintained it's older appearance

It was a truly massive building, made of stone, with large wooden doors and an iron fence, it even had gargoyles decorating the roof

He couldn't imagine why Atem had wanted to bring him here for their first date

"You'll see," he promised joyfully, opening the door and taking Seto by the hand, pocketing the keys and then taking a miniature flashlight from his pocket to use as their lightening as he dragged Seto inside and shut the door behind them

"You know, I was about to ask if you worked here, but considering that we aren't using the lights, I'm beginning to question that,"

"Oh, no, I don't work here," Atem shrugged back, pulling Seto along through a seemingly zig-zagging path, weaving in and out of shelves and bookcases and bookshelves

He must come here alot to be able to find his way around so easily....

"Then... we're just trespassing?"

"Something like that," Atem snickered, tugging Seto towards a door in the back, and upon opening it, Seto found himself staring at... a staircase... oddly enough...

"Yugi's grandfather inherited this place, I'm allowed access," he explained, starting to climb up the stairs with Seto right on his heels

"I see, so if you _don't_ work here, then where _do_ you work?"

He realized that he was probably going to have to come out with the fact that he owned Kaiba Corp any time now, this was no longer a flirtation, they were having a real relationship and it wouldn't be right for him to hide the truth any longer

He just hoped that Atem would react well, and that nothing between them would change just because he found out that Seto was rich...

Suddenly though, all thoughts of work and secrets and everything else absolutely flew out of his head, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open as he found himself stepping out onto the roof of the building.... wich was, evidently, their date spot

There was a small, nicely set table in the center with food already waiting, candles _everywhere_ , despite the fact that they didn't actually need much extra light due to the streetlamps below and the moon above

And there was a boombox in the corner playing... _Mr. Blue Sky_...?

"Is that-?"

"Awesome Mix Volume 2? Yes, yes it is, now sit, we should eat before everything gets cold,"

Considering that the food was still steaming by the time they sat down, he was pretty sure Atem had had help setting this up, wich was even more charming than if he had set it up by himself

"And to answer your question, I'm a professional chef,"

Seto paused, a truly dumbfounded expression on his face

"... You're kidding,"

"No, why would I be?" he laughed in return

"So that's what the thing this afternoon was about? With the food?"

"Well no, I care about your health, I'd still have offered to make lunch for you tommorrow regardless of my career, and if I had known before I placed the order that the only thing on that list that was your's was that tiny, sad little salad, I would have insisted you have something else with it, just so you know,"

... Oh.... huh

"So did you make this then?" he asked with mild surprise, staring down at his pasta

It looked so rich and perfectly done and- .. well... _professional_

He supposed there was a reason for that

But for some reason he just couldn't picture Atem that way, doing something other than cheerleading, that is

His veiws would probably change once he watched him cook, just as they had once he had watched him cheer

Now that he knew Atem as a cheerleader, it was impossible to picture him as a dancer or a skater or any of the other things he had thought he might have been before

"I did, today is actually my day off but I wanted to get your opinion on my food, and since my restaurant is right across the street-"

" _Your_ restaurant?"

"Yes, wich I own," Atem smirked playfully, taking a bottle of some sort- it looked like a bottle of champagne- out of the bucket of ice on the table

"I don't drink," Seto warned quickly, suddenly noticing that there was no water or anything else available

Shit...

"Neither do I, this is sparkling cider," Atem smirked, popping the top off before pouring some into his glass, then pouring some into Seto's

The CEO was shocked, to say the least, and was taken off guard for a moment

"You know... you're the first adult I've ever met who doesn't drink,"

Usually when he was out he had to fake it, letting business partners pour wine for him that he never drank, ordering a virgin drink at the bar before going to his table so that no one else would know it was non-alcoholic

It was a stupid ritual honestly, and he hated it, but he also knew from experience that the sort of people he worked with wouldn't take him seriously if he had any qualms about alcohol

They already took issue with his young age, so any sign of "immaturity" would be like cutting off his own hand

"Really? You need to hang out with my freinds more often," Atem winked playfully

Ah... Seto had so many questions that he wanted to ask about that....

So many things that he wanted to know about, but he knew he had to choose a line of thought and stay in it, atleast for now

"You said you owned your restaurant? You're so young though- .. or atleast I assume you're young,"

He decided to go with the subject that was more light-hearted, less likely to dig into his ... less than favorable past the way the subject of alcohol would have

"Yes, I'm only a year younger than you are, but that still shouldn't surprise you so much, Mr. CEO-At-24,"

That was enough for Seto to nearly drop his champagne glass, his eyes wide and his heart skipping a beat

"You... you know who I am? How- .. when did you find out?"

"Um, the moment you first spoke to me? I'm not an idiot Seto,"

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck........

"You... you've never acted like you knew," he muttered, taking a sip of his drink before picking up his fork

"You didn't introduce yourself as 'Seto Kaiba', so I figured you weren't looking for me to act like a rabid fanboy, and since you never did tell me your last name or your career, I just figured you wanted it to stay a 'secret', I can't unknow something, but I can still act indifferent to it,"

"... And... _are_ you indifferent to it?" he asked slowly, taking his first bite of the food and- .... _holy fuck_...

How was it possible that Atem was so fucking talented at _everything_!?

Seto had never been a food person, but he SWORE that Atem's cooking could easily turn him into one

"I am, I don't care what you do Seto, or what your name is, I care about who you are, and you're a magnificent person who I want to be with- for _you_ , not your status,"

~~Seto was still in the middle of having some sort of late-life food epiphany so he was only half able to pay attention~~

"I... thank you... for that..." he said quietly, his face a little red as he stared up at Atem

"I appreciate that more than you know,"

"I think I can figure it out, how's the food, by the way?"

Given the way Atem was smirking, Seto was willing to bet that he knew exactly how good the fucking food was

"It's... _amazing_ , I can't believe you can cook like this, is there anything you _can't_ do?"

"Oh, there are plenty of things I can't do, sewing for one thing, that's why costuming is always such a pain in the ass for us, no one on my team can sew,"

"Lucky for you then that both Mai and Duke are fashion designers, isn't it?"

"Are they really?" Atem asked in amazement

"Yes, that's how they met, Mai was already on our team, Duke went to work for her company and she dragged him in, remember when I said I could handle the costumes for Saturday?"

"You really meant that _they_ would handle it," Atem concluded with a smirk

"I understand that though, you have to delegate, a team is a team, just like in my restaurant, I mean technically, I _could_ cook every dish on the menu, but I obviously can't handle the entire restaurant by myself, that's what sou chefs are for, and pastry chefs like Ryou,"

"Right, that reminds me.... what's the thing with Bakura about anyway? It seemed pretty serious earlier,"

Atem just brushed that off and picked at his food, eyes suddenly averting

"It's really nothing, Ryou has a twin brother who's... considerably less of a lovely person than Ryou is, they both often go by 'Bakura' so I'm just hoping your freind is crushing on Ryou, not his brother, but because they're identical twins it's very hard to tell the difference,"

"Well if it helps at all, Marik is convinced the one he's interested in is a yakuza boss so..."

Clearly, that wasn't the answer that Atem had been hoping for

"I'll .. make sure to keep that in consideration,"

Well that was a weird response

Seto wanted to ask more, but Atem was quick to interrupt him

"SO, you know, we really don't know nearly enough about eachother, we should learn more, why don't we play that game? That um.... thirty-something questions that will make you fall in love game?"

"Never heard of it," Seto shrugged, taking another bite

"Oh, you'll like this!" Atem promised brightly, taking his phone out of his pocket and hurriedly typing something into it

"Ok, so, according to some essay somewhere, there are thirty-six questions that can make you fall in love with anyone if they're answered honestly, we should ask eachother those, see if it works, it'll be fun!"

Well...

Seto supposed that couldn't hurt

"Alright, what's the first one?"

" _Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as a dinner guest?_ "

"Seriously? Gods that's too boring, where are the good questions?" he huffed with a roll of his eyes

"Oh I see, so you're the kind who wants to skip the foreplay and get straight to the orgasm then?"

Seto choked on his cider, staring at Atem utterly _scandalized_

"I- .. no! No such thing! I just... I don't have a good answer for it, and what does that have to do with sex!?"

"It's a metaphor Seto-"

"I know that!!"

"-and it doesn't matter if your answer is good or not, it just has to be honest,"

Seto huffed, biting the inside of his cheek in irritation and embarrassment

"I love foreplay..."

Atem's eyebrows raised, a smirk on his face as he sipped his own cyder

"Oh really? What's your favorite kind?"

_Shit_ , Atem called his bluff....

Seto looked like a deer in the headlights of life, and apparently that was enough to tip Atem off to the inevitable truth that Seto had really been hoping to keep to himself

"Seto.... I was your first blowjob, wasn't I?"

".... Maybe....."

"And you're, otherwise, a virgin, aren't you?"

"............ Maybe........"

"Seto, that's ok," Atem promised, reaching across the table to take the CEO's hand and give it a small squeeze, bringing it up closer to his face and giving Seto's palm and fingers a few loving kisses

"You were mine too, my first... anything, I mean,"

Wait a minute, what!?

"What!? But... but then... why did you suck off a practical stranger in a locker room...?"

"Why did _you_ suck off a practical stranger in a locker room?"

Oh damn, he really hadn't expected that to backfire...

"I feel drawn to you, Seto, in ways that make no sense, in ways I can't describe, and I could try to explain it all but wouldn't it just feel better to let it stay a mystery? Wouldn't it all be better if there was still some mystery to life and the world around us? There are so many things about you, and about us, and about this, that I have never done before and never would have considered doing until now but.... I can't tell myself 'no' when it comes to you,"

With that, Seto leaned in closer, cupping Atem's face gently and giving him a slow, chaste kiss, stroking his thumb slowly over the apple of his lover's cheek

The kiss was so slow and gentle, so soft and sweet, it was so completely opposite of the hard-fast-filthy-passionate way their relationship had been up until now

Atem smiled, soft and warm, as Seto pulled back, and the other cheerleader slowly stood from his seat

"Do you know the history of this library, Seto?" he asked suddenly, much to Seto's confusion and surprise

"Um... no, should I?"

Atem gave something of a vague shrug, moving towards the edge of the roof, where one of the gargoyles were

"It was designed by an architect named Koga Herveaux, he took his wife's last name after meeting her, she was a French-Portuguese concert pianist, working breifly in Japan when they met, they fell in love immediately, they fell in love so deeply, that three months after meeting, they were married, he loved her so much in fact, that he hid little symbols in all of his projects from that moment on, even in this building, if you look hard enough, you can find her name carved into the floors, the ceilings, the walls... letters spelling out 'Elena' can be found just about everywhere, but that isn't the only symbol of her's, according to stories, when he went back to France with her to meet her family, he was hit by a car, it's unclear if it was an accident or if, for some reason, it may have been an intentional attempt on his life, but regardless, it was a tragedy, he lay in the streets dieing, and picturing Elena's face, but as he faded in and out of consciousness, he swore that he saw his wife, running towards him... but not as a woman, as a _wolf_ , he swore that she saved his life, and from that moment on, he incorporated not only Elena's name, but also wolves into all of his projects, these gargoyles aren't actually gargoyles, as a matter of fact, they're wolves, but they're modeled after European gargoyles to make them more 'designer' and to hide the symbolism a little better, Herveaux was all about expressing his love for his wife in open, public... but subtle manners, changing his name to her's was one of those ways, he was an orphan, so he had no use for his last name, ironically, he changed it right before he became famous, no one really remembers what his Japanese surname is, they only remember Herveaux,"

"That's a nice story, but ... do you have a point?" Seto asked slowly

"I do," Atem promised, turning around briskly and leaning back against one of the wolf-gragoyle statues

"I brought you here because in my opinion, it's the most romantic place in Japan, this is the first building Herveaux built to honor his wife, the first time his new name was acknowledged, the building that made him famous and thus made his name- and _her_ name- famous too, it was where they met, it was where they had their first kiss, where they returned to after he was nearly killed, this building is like... a solid, standing monument to a beautifull love story, and I want a love story like that,"

"I'm still not connecting the dots here...."

Atem's lips twitched into a small grin as he stepped up closer to Seto, taking his hand once again

"Koga never questioned what he saw that day, he never asked Elena about it, he never ... tried to prove what he saw, or to disprove it, he never said that she was some sort of... monster, or loup garou, he never tried to prove that he was one, he didn't care, he didn't care what she was or how she saved him or if he would be changed somehow because of it, all that mattered was that he loved her, he loved her so deeply that he poured every inch of himself into loving her, and made sure the entire world knew it too, my point is.... maybe he knew, maybe he asked, maybe she told him some big secret or he woke up in a hospital room or hell, maybe every bit of it was a lie, but I just remember... hearing that story when my mother brought me here as a child, and thinking how romantic it was, that a relationship could be so full of mysteries and enchantments, so ... built... on nothing but a draw to eachother, a love that flooded through them quickly but entirely, that .. logic didn't get in the way of true love, that they just kept the mysteries alive between them because all they cared about was being eachother, that's all,"

Seto was quiet for a moment, staring at his lover, at the way the moonlight reflected in Atem's eyes, the way the summer breeze caused his skirt to sway around his calves, the smile that rested on his face...

"You," he finally said, catching Atem by a bit of confusion

"Um... me..?"

"The answer to the question you asked me earlier, who I would want to have dinner with? You, I've... never cared about .. things like celebrities or historical figures, the only people I've ever admired are either dead or..... you, except for Mokuba but we have dinner all the time, you though... I have never actually _wanted_ to spend time with anyone before, not in this... intimate way, not in the 'having dinner' type of way, except for you, so... if I could choose anyone, I'd still choose you,"

Apparently Atem had been wrong before

There _was_ such a thing as a good answer

 

~+~

 

Seto woke at five A.M., knowing he needed to get up so he could shower, get dressed, and get to work by six

He never bothered with breakfast or anything like that, only ever coffee, and he was always quick in his morning routine

But...

He shifted a little, his arms wrapped gently but tightly around Atem's body as the other cheerleader slept peacefully in his arms

There was rain pouring down outside, tapping soothingly against the windows

The bed was warm and soft and more comfortable than it had ever been

His body was full of pleasant aches and he had never woken sore and been glad for it until now

It seemed like a crime against nature to get up and leave....

Shifting a little, he carefully reached over Atem's tiny body, grabbed his phone from the nightstand, and sent a text to his assistant's phone

_clear my schedule for today, something has come up, see you tommorrow_

Setting his phone back down, he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly

He had never thought he could enjoy someone's company when they weren't even awake before

Clearly, once again, Atem had proven him wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Kekkon omedeto" means "congratulations on your marriage", Marik is just full of the salt


	6. This Is Where The Fun Ends And The Party Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Glitter And Gold" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GySIToHCPac

"Wow! I really do love this costume! Thank you again Mai!!"

"Aw don't worry about it," Mai winked playfully, grinning from ear to ear as she watched Atem spin in his costume, clearly brightly admiring the red, ruffly cheerleading outfit and the little red lace ribbon in his hair- well, his wig

"I'll be happy to design costumes for you in the future too, so keep my card, not that you'll need it, what with being Seto's boyfreind and all," she snickered, blowing a kiss playfully

Seto, in the mean time, only grumbled in response

He had been openly dating Atem for a week now and he was glad that everyone knew- hell even the media knew by this point- but he was... _less_ happy when it was thrown around so ... _carelessly_ like that

Being Atem's boyfreind really meant something to him, he just hoped Atem felt the same way...

"You sure everything is ready to go? The music? The cameras?" Atem asked, turning to look at Duke worriedly

"Don't worry, I made sure, Tristan's AV club buddy took care of that," he promised, waving off the concerns

"I'm sorry, _cameras_?" Seto asked with a tense frown

"Yeah, for the game? Don't worry, we won't record the show if you don't want us to," Atem promised

Seto had to think about that for a minute, but ultimately...

It wouldn't be fair to anyone else if they wanted this to be recorded and he objected...

And though he despised the setting of this shit, he _was_ proud of their routine...

"It's fine," is all he ultimately ended up mumbling back, much to the high-fiving of several of the other cheerleaders

Great...

"The game is about to start, you guys need anything else before you go on?"

Ah, and that would be the infamous Yugi

Seto had actually met him the day after he and Atem slept together for the first time, the day he took off of work

As it turns out, Atem couldn't make the same promise, but as he wasn't even needed until mid-afternoon, they had still been able to sleep in ~~and "sleep" together~~ for a wile

Seto had decided to spend his "day off" with Atem, drinking coffee and munching on random appetizers that Atem wanted him to try wile doing some work on his laptop- and, in the mean time, meeting Yugi, who actually _ran_ the restaurant, and Ryou, the pastry chef, until it was time for them to hit the gym and practice for a couple of hours before Atem's dinner shift started

Seto could also confirm two things with 100% certainty:

1\. Yugi Muto was an incredibly sweet, kind, person, who, up close, looked nothing like a girl, and who looked considerably less identical to Atem than he had first thought

And 2. Ryou Bakura most certainly was not the yakuza boss that Marik seemed to be so hung up over

Marik confirmed that for himself on Wendsday when they met, but the two of them actually seemed strangely fond of eachother anyway

Seto wasn't in the business of speculating on other people's relationships, but he couldn't help wondering if Marik's attention was shifting to the _other_ Bakura brother now that they had actually met

He couldn't help hoping for it, being involved with the yakuza was the last fucking thing he needed in his life, though...

He couldn't help thinking back now and then about Atem and his squad being connected to them somehow and wondering why that was...

Hell he was still wondering about what Atem had been "recovering" from last Friday too, but Atem's weird French werewolf story had managed to strike a nerve in him and he now had a real appreciation for not trying to find out the answer to every single thing

He just hoped that wouldn't end up biting him in the ass later

"We're fine Yugi, but thank you," Atem smiled adoringly, looping his fingers through Seto's and giving his hand a small, reassuring squeeze

"Ofcourse, I'm going to go back out to the bleachers then, good luck guys! Oh, and Kara? I think someone is looking forward to seeing you cheer in particular,"

Given Yugi's teasing wink and the way the blonde got all excited and chipper, Seto had a pretty good idea of who that someone was

Say what you want about his attachment to Atem but atleast he hadn't flown across the country to see him two weeks in a row now

Really, Marik's "wedding bells" comment should be directed at _those two_

....

~~Though he really couldn't help but hope that the wedding prediction would come true someday for them too...~~

"Alright, shall we go?" Atem grinned excitedly, giving Seto's hand another squeeze and pulling a smile from the CEO's face

The rest of the team gave some sort of battle-cry, or... cheer of excitement that Seto didn't understand, he assumed that must have been discussed during one of those times when he had zoned out in concentration of just how much he adored some aspect of Atem and hadn't paid any attention to what his boyfreind was actually saying

Judging by the look on Atem's face when Seto didn't participate in that cheer... apparently he had noticed that himself

Oh well, he could have missed something more important, atleast he was confident that he knew the routine

He just hoped this night went well

 

~+~

 

The cheer actually went off without a hitch

Working with Atem was an even better experience than it had been in practice

To actually watch him in full costume as he flew through the air, spun across the ground, did his splits and tricks and routines...

To _participate_ in those things with him....

It was a joy that Seto couldn't describe

He remembered once again why he loved cheerleading so much, besides honoring his mother

He remembered how much fun it really was, how much he enjoyed the craft of it, the sport of it, the _fun_ of it

Not having to cheer for a competition and just doing it for something small that didn't have to be perfect...

It was a bigger releif than Seto had ever thought it would be, even with his perfectionism at play

And Atem seemed to feel the same way

Everyone in the squad seemed to be having a great time, and Seto didn't even feel the animosity and loathing for Joey that he usually did when they were performing

It sounded kind of rediculous, but that one routine had done more to improve his mood and his mental well-being than anything had in the longest time...

Well, anything but Atem that is

When half-time came, Seto still felt light and happy, not worn out and frustrated like he had expected to feel, it was a nice change of pace

"Hey, Seto," Atem panted softly, stepping up to his boyfreind and placing a hand on his back, successfully drawing Seto's attention towards him

"Um... listen, I need to ... go for just one second and talk to my freind ok? I'll be back in five minutes, I promise, you just... relax, alright? Yugi is right there in the front row, try to stay near him, can you do that for me?"

... Well that was a weird request

"Sure... but why-"

"Remember, mysteries and enchantments," Atem replied quickly, leaning up on the tips of his toes and giving him a quick kiss before racing back towards Joey and grabbing his freind by the hand, dragging him hurriedly towards the school

Seto's eyes narrowed, his nose wrinkling

Something about this just wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on what...

Whatever it was, it was officially terrifying

Looking around the feild, he noticed that the brunette lacrosse player who had been talking to Duke since half-time started was also leaving, chasing after the other two, and Duke was coming his way...

Oh, something was _definitely_ not right

"Hey, do you know what's up with those guys? Tristan just ran off," Duke stated with an annoyed expression, crossing his arms over his chest

"I don't.... but I'm going to find out," Seto grumbled back, glancing over his shoulder and finding with surprise, and a bit of apprehension, that Yugi was staring right at them, though he was clearly trying to pretend that it he wasn't

Kara's girlfreind was sitting right next to him... and Ishizu was on his other side....

Huh

"Hey, Devlin, you want me to find out what's going on?"

"Um, _duh_ ,"

"Then I need your help, get Kara and Mai, the three of you distract Yugi, make sure he doesn't see me leave,"

Seto needed to be sneaky about this and the last thing he needed was for a fuss to be made about it because Yugi caught him leaving

As... weird and probably stupid as that sounded

"Got it," Duke promised with a quick and easy nod, heading over to the two blondes and having a quick chat with them, and barely a minute later, the three had formed a line in front of the bleachers, with the girls on both ends talking to their respective crushes and Duke in the center blocking Yugi's veiwpoint

_Perfect_

With that, Seto ran off to the school, and hoped that whatever this was wouldn't be too serious

Mysteries and enchantments were great when dealing with folkstories and romanticism, but when it came to acting suspicious? Not so much

 

~+~

 

The locker room was kind of creepy like this...

The lights were out for some reason, and there was an eerie stillness to the entire room

Everything in Seto's body was telling him that there was something wrong going on here, he just didn't know what, and then he stepped forward, and heard something _crunch_ under his foot, and his stomach sank

Swallowing anxiously, he slowly pulled his foot away, staring down at what he had stepped on in confusion

Was that... glass...?

No, no it was too thick and .. opaque to be glass

Bending down, carefully avoiding actually touching the ground with anything but his shoes, he reached down and carefully pinched one of the larger peices between his fingers, bringing it closer to his face for a better look, and suddenly coming to a realization

There was a reason the lights weren't on

He was holding a peice of a lightbulb right here and now

Wile he was on the ground, as he was setting the lightbulb shard back down, he suddenly noticed another pair of shoes around the corner- _moving_ shoes

Hurriedly, he stood up again and pressed himself against some lockers, peering around the corner and narrowing his eyes

It was hard to see in the dark, but he could make out the familiar bright red of Atem's uniform

Why was Atem creeping around an empty, dark locker room...?

"I swear I heard it,"

That was unmistakably Joey's voice, hushed and quiet, so he was there with Atem then?

He watched in confusion as the blonde stepped forward and raised his head in the air, his nose wrinkling, was he... was he ... _sniffing the air like a dog!?_

"Hate locker rooms.... can't catch a scent 'cause o' all the fuckin' B.O. an' deoderant.... masks all the real shit...."

"It doesn't matter, I'm telling you, I saw one going towards the women's locker room, I think they're trying to lay a trap for Serenity and Willow,"

"Or for you, ya' know, your boyfreind might not be the only one mistakin' ya' for a girl," Joey snickered

Seriously? _SERIOUSLY_!? How was that still following him!?

"Not now Jo," Atem huffed, taking a few steps closer, prompting Seto to press himself up closer to the lockers

"Sorry sorry.... I just hope Tristan's ok..."

"He'll be fine, I'm confident in that," Atem said assuredly, placing a hand on Joey's shoulder and giving it a squeeze

With that, they passed by the lockers where Seto was hiding, not seeming to notice him

What the fuck....?

What the fuck was going on!?

Swallowing tightly, he tried to map out in his head what might be happening here, what in the hell he had just walked in on....

It had to be the yakuza

That was the only explanation

But Seto couldn't believe that Atem and his squad were bad people, that they were... some sort of rival gang or something

It had to be something innocent, someone needed a loan or got in bed- literally- with the wrong people or needed to pay off medical bills or.... or _something_

Whatever it was, Seto knew that Atem was innocent of any wrong-doing, atleast, innocent in what Seto's personal veiws of that word were, and he was ready to go to war for it

Or more likely, pay off whoever was trying to hurt his boyfreind

That in mind, he hurriedly made his way to his locker, glad he had memorized the number, and opened it as quietly as he could, sifting through his things until he found his phone

If he could wire money to the yakuza, then this would all go away, right?

So he turned the phone on, using the light from it to help him see, and made his way down the hall

If he could find a supply closet, he could get an extra lacrosse stick or something, just in case things got nasty

He made his way to the nearest closet, finding it to be much bigger than he had thought it would be

He had always assumed all school closets were like broom closets, but this one was actually walk-in

He shone his phone over the small room to the best of his ability, looking for a lacrosse stick, when instead his eyes caught on something else

Baseball bats.....

_Better_

Grabbing one of the bats, he was immediately surprised at how heavy it was

It wasn't a problem, he lifted adults and tossed them around like they were weightless on a regular basis, this was... fine, just unexpected

As he was turning, however, to exit the closet, he caught sight of something else- or... rather, _some **one**_ else

Someone he didn't recognize, dressed in all black, with a long black trench coat, and... a _gun_

Yeah, Seto was pretty sure that one didn't belong to Atem, and he was walking straight towards the women's locker rooms where Atem had just gone ~~and Joey~~

But in his hurry to get a better grip on his bat and creep out after the guy, he lost his grip on his phone

It was one of those moments where everything was happening in slow motion... and yet not slow enough to actually intervene

The phone landed on the floor with a clatter, and apparently, in Seto's attempts at stopping it before it was too late, he had accidentally pressed the button for the music library

_I am flesh and I am bone  
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter and gold_

.....

_Mother **FUCKER**_

Swallowing anxiously, he watched the yakuza turn towards him, evidently not able to see him due to the door to the supply closet being in the way

Good, that was... that was good

That meant Seto still had the advantage

The stranger was getting closer and closer, and Seto was breathing heavier and heavier, he wondered distantly if Atem was ok, if he had heard the noise, if he would come running to investigate....

Probably

He tightened his grip a second time, his fingers tapping alongside the handle of the bat, and just as the door was opened and he was about to strike--

Someone else got to the guy first, a blur of red going past him as the stranger was tackled to the ground

_I am flesh and I am bone  
Arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold_

Hurrying out of the closet- and this time not metaphorically- he rushed out with his bat, prepared to do whatever it took to help his boyfreind

It wasn't Atem on top of the stranger, however

Rather, it was Tristan

But there was something.. _off_ about him...

Something _wrong_

Even if Seto couldn't place what it was, at the time

There was a moment of stillness then, a moment wherein Seto could just... _feel_ that his entire life was about to change, where he could feel that he was on the cusp of something monumental, that after this, nothing would be the same

He was right


	7. Oh I See A Man In The Back As A Matter Of Fact, His Eyes Were As Red As The Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glitter And Gold- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GySIToHCPac  
> Ballroom Blitz- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewFBuYHldeY  
> It's Oh So Quiet- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=horRWtbAJoI

When Tristan turned to look over his shoulder at the cheerleader, Seto felt his stomach clench and his heart skip a beat

It was still Tristan, but he was _different_ now

Now he sported longer, more pointed eas, his teeth were sharper, more like fangs, his fingernails now claws, and his eyes... his eyes were a bright golden yellow, not the usual brown

_I've got fire in my soul  
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter_

What the hell..?

What the fuck!?

For a moment, albeit a short one, Seto wondered if he was hallucinating, the two of them holding eachother's gaze

Slowly, the lacrosse player rose to his feet, flicking blood off of his hands- his... _claws_......

"You need to get out of here,"

What...?

"Not without Atem," Seto found himself saying, before he was entirely aware of it

"Dammit, I'm not _asking_ you Kaiba, I'm _telling_ you, you're going to get killed in here!!"

Before either of them could say another word, an arrow suddenly came flying at the lacrosse player's direction, forcing him to dive to the floor in order to miss it and hurrying to grab the gun out of the corpse's hand- atleast, Seto assumed it was a corpse- and start shooting

Seto used that opportunity to run out from the supply closet, deciding to leave his phone behind as he rushed towards the female locker room

One thing was for sure now, these guys- whoever they were, whatever they were... they didn't want money, Seto paying them off wouldn't work

Looks like a bat would have to do then

He could still hear the music playing from his phone as he walked, the volume was up to the max and there was such an echo in the hallway and the locker room...

He sighed quietly, swallowed, and tightened his grip on the bat, the only sounds coming from the phone down the hall

Tristan had stopped shooting at some point, causing the eerie silence to be filled by nothing but Seto's heavy breathing, and the music echoing from the hallway

It was so clear in the silence, that Seto even noticed when the track changed

_Are you ready Steve? Uh-huh_  
Andy? Yeah  
Mick? Okay  
Alright fellas, let's go! 

Swallowing tightly, he felt a chill rush through him as he spotted a large red streak across one of the lockers

_Blood_

It was everywhere

It was on the lockers, on the walls, on the floor...

And sitting in the center of it, was Atem

He nelt before what Seto assume was a corpse, slowly pulling his hands away from it, watching the blood drip off of them in horror, but that wasn't what horrified _Seto_

What horrified Seto was the man with the gun slowly approaching Atem from behind

Gritting his teeth, Seto hurriedly rushed down another line of lockers and managing to get right behind the would-be attacker

And just as he lifted his gun up, Seto rose the bat high above his head, and swung it down against the stranger's skull as hard as he could, letting one hand drop off of the bat as he heaved a few breaths and finally glanced up at Atem, who had just turned to stare over his shoulder in shock at the ... _incident_

"I guess I'm what you could call a _power bottom_ ," Seto huffed, pulling the bat away from the man's skull

Atem slowly rose to his feet, shock still written across his face, and his features... _deformed_ , like Tristan's were

His teeth were sharp, his nails had become claws, and his bright red eyes practically glowed in the darkness of the room

Something _in between_

"Seto...? What are you doing here!? Get out!!" he screamed

"Are you kidding me? I just saved our fucking life!"

"At the expense of your own! You're going to get yourself killed!" Atem shouted in anger, his lip curling as he glared at Seto

"Get. OUT."

"Bite me!" Seto shouted back, his hands tightening around the bat

"Do you _really_ want to say that to me right now?" Atem growled, opening his mouth wide enough for Seto to see just how sharp his teeth really were

"Oh don't threaten me with a good time sweetheart," Seto huffed back

At just that moment, before Atem could respond, Seto heard groaning coming from the man below him, his blue eyes narrowing as he wrapped his other hand around the bat again and swung it down hard on the stranger's head

"Did I _say_ you could speak? Fucker..."

" _Seto_!" Atem shouted

"You can't just go around putting yourself between us and hunters with a fucking _baseball bat_ , this isn't Teen Wolf! It doesn't work that way!"

"And you're not exactly Tyler Hoechlin, but we live with what life throws at us, now don't we?"

Atem was _fuming_ , but incidentally, he didn't get the chance to say anything else, except-

"Get down!!"

Atem leaped, and Seto ducked, just like in their routine, as the ... _whatever_ Atem was jumped over him and managed to dodge the arrow that was fired at him

And clearly, the intruder with the crossbow wasn't the only one who was causing trouble, because when Seto looked up, he was staring face to blade-tip with some maniac wearing a masquerade mask and weilding a set of short blades, smaller than swords, but longer than daggers

"Is that Seto Kaiba I'm looking at? My my, what an honor!" the freak of nature cackled, much to Seto's grimmace

"Afraid the pleasure is all your's, I haven't the foggiest idea who you are,"

The maniac chuckled, bowing with one hand at his ribs, the other still aiming the blade at Seto's face

"Just call me Arkana,"

"Arkana huh? Funny, I have a much better nickname for you,"

"Oh? And that would be?"

Seto smirked, a gleam in his eyes

"Dead,"

Immediately, Seto kicked upwards as hard as he could, his shin managing to make contact with Arkana's groin and forcing him to double over

_And the man in the back said everyone attack  
And it turned into a ballroom blitz_

Seto quickly lifted his legs up over his head and jumped to his feet- _thank you cheerleading_ \- before grabbing his bat again

"That was a ... low blow!" Arkana panted as he straightened up again

"I'm a CEO, what do you expect?" Seto spat back

For a moment, things were still, Seto trying to focus on where Atem was, but he couldn't hear anything else significant, he didn't have the time to hone in on it, as a moment later, Arkana had tossed a throwing dagger at him

Seto hurried to duck, watching anxiously as the blade landed in one of the locker doors

Seto kept his head low as Arkana continued tossing the blades at him, incidentally drawing them from the back of his belt

One good thing about cheerleading? Learning to be quick on your feet

Arkana kept throwing, Seto kept dodging, and they continued their dance until the stranger was out of blades, save for the two miniature swords he was weilding- if that was what Seto could call them

Now it was a bit of a fairer fight

For a moment, the two of them simply stood still, each panting loudly, sizing eachother up, planning their next moves

Seto could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing from somewhere else in the locker room, and barely hear the sound of his phone changing songs once again

_It's oh so quiet  
It's oh so still_

Seto's lips curved into a small smile, stretching one hand out and beckoning the stranger forward

Arkana gave a sickening snicker, his eyes narrowing as he charged forward, and Seto charged back

_You fall in love, zing boom!_

The blades hit against the bat, creating a sickening scratching sound that made it feel as though bugs were crawling beneath Seto's skin as the blades scraped against the metal bat

Seto swung backwards, away from the blades, and aimed a kick to Arkana's stomach, just managing to collide with it, forcing him down towards the ground

_You've never been so nuts about a guy_  
You want to laugh you want to cry  
You cross your heart and hope to die 

And just as he lost his balance, Seto spun around again, and cracked the bat right into Arkana's face

_Till it's over and then, it's nice and quiet_

Panting quietly, Seto withdrew the bat, watching as the man sank to the ground, blood smeared across the lockers- rubbed into the _dent_ in the locker- and dripping down onto the floor as the body hit the ground

He panted quietly for a moment, slowly letting one hand drop from the bat as he attempted to catch his breath, but that attempt didn't last for very long

Just as he took a stumbling step back to sit down on the bench behind him, trying to listen for the footsteps so he would know what direction to go in

_You blow a fuse, zing boom!_

There was a sudden _BANG_ from behind him, and he wipped around to stare in shock as the first man Seto had clubbed over the head was suddenly pressed against the opposite side lockers, Atem's hand around his throat, the other withdrawing from his chest, blood dripping off of his fingertips as the corpse hit the floor

Panting quietly himself, Atem glanced over at his boyfreind, and for a short moment, they were quiet, before Atem finally spoke

"First rule of wolf club... always make sure the enemy's fucking _dead_ before you walk off and leave them with a weapon,"

Slowly, Atem himself collapsed onto the bench behind Seto, sitting back to back, their positions slightly uneven, so that Seto's right shoulder and Atem's left were pressed against eachother, but nothing else

And for a moment, all they could hear was their breathing, and the music

"So..... I think we missed the encore..."

"Yes...." Atem hissed lowly, his head hung

There was a moment of silence, before Atem spoke again

"You haven't asked any questions,"

"Mysteries and enchantments," Seto answered automatically

Slowly, Atem glanced up, leaning back to stare at his boyfreind in confusion, but he didn't have time to question any further, the sound of footsteps echoed around the corner, and they both jumped to their feet, Seto with his bat, Atem with his claws, and both- .... suddenly pausing as Joey slid around the corner

"You guys ok?"

"Yes, are you?"

"Yeah.... 'cept for one little problem,"

"Fuck, now what?" Atem snipped in irritation

Joey's face fell, and he shifted with discomfort, turning on his heel and waving them forward

"Better to show than tell..."

Well that couldn't be good

Atem reached down, gently tangling their fingers together as they strode out of the locker room and back out into the hallway, where...

_Fuck_..

The entire cheerleading team was waiting for them, in various states of bloodied distress, all quiet, except for that damn music

"See what your boyfreind started?" Joey snipped irritably

....

"Fuck..."

_The sky caves in, the devil cuts loose_  
You blow blow blow blow your fuse  
When you've fallen in love 


	8. Confess, Confess, Confess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to the lovely Venom for helping me by editing Atem's Monster Speech, I really hope I got the edits right!

"So.... who's going to make the first 'Avengers at Shwarma' reference?"

He hated to admit it, but Mai wasn't exactly wrong

They were all sitting around a few tables at Ra Horus, in various states of injury, bloodiness, and general dishevlment, drinking coffee and just.... mostly staying quiet, atleast until she had spoken

"I think that was just you," Seto noted slowly, stirring his coffee lazily with a spoon, watching with disinterest as the black liquid swirled around and around

He wondered if he should try adding sugar for once...

"Yeah well, someone had to say something at some point, can we get this werewolf talk started already?"

Atem rose up suddenly, causing Seto's head to jerk up immediately, like a dog hearing the mail truck

"I'm going to make a couple of pizzas first, it won't take me long, but we should eat, I can't speak for any of you, but wolves need alot of food to stay going, especially those of us who require healing,"

His eyes shifted breifly to Joey and Tristan, and then flickered over to Seto for a moment

"Seto, would you help me?"

"Sure... but I don't really .. know how to make pizza, shouldn't you be ask-"

"My staff is, obviously, not working at this hour, I won't call them in when they're off hours,"

Suddenly, Seto had the feeling that none of this had anything to do with pizza, and he nodded slowly before sliding out of the booth and following Atem to the kitchen

It was almost midnight now, the restaurant had been closed since eleven, they were the only ones there

It was a comforting sort of emptiness, honestly

The kitchen was huge and clean enough to perform surgery in, it was all so organized that Atem had managed to start pulling out ingredients the moment they walked in

"Can you chop peppers?"

"Um... sure?"

The next thing he knew, there was a nife and a green bell pepper in front of him on a cutting board

"Dice them as small as you can without cutting yourself,"

"Right..."

Was Atem mad at him?

Had he done something wrong?

He seemed to be acting so coldly since the moment they left the locker room, was it Seto's fault?

Just as he was starting to seriously worry that he had screwed everything up, Atem spoke again

"You haven't asked me any questions.... you .. haven't asked a _single_ question, why?"

Was that.... was that why he was being so cold!? Did he think Seto was uninterested or something!?

"Mysteries and enchan-"

"Dammit Seto, that only goes so far!! You can't honestly tell me that you're ok with me being a fucking _werewolf_ and not knowing a single thing about it!"

"Like hell I can't! I know you Atem, I know you and I love you-"

"You what?"

"-and I don't give a fuck if you're a werewolf or a zombie or a fucking demon from hell! None of that matters to me, what matters isn't _what_ you are, it's _who_ you are, and you are someone who ... who I care about more than I've ever cared about anyone aside from my brother and yes, I love you, you don't have to say it back, I know it's too soon but... I have literally _killed_ for you, I helped you drag bodies out into a fucking swamp for you, I would walk through fire for you, go to the ends of the earth for you, if you died I would put myself in the equivalent of a medically induced coma so I could walk through the hot sands of the afterlife and drag you off of your stupid little throne to get you back to the mortal world with me, and if that's not love then what is?!"

"... That's concerningly specific," Atem said slowly, clearly looking a little.... weirded out.....

But the expression softened into something a little warmer and gentler a moment later as Atem stepped forward and leaned up on the tips of his toes so he could cup his lover's cheek

"Seto.... I think we need to talk,"

"No... no no no no no, please don't.. please don't say 'we need to talk', I have watched enough shitty, miserable sitcoms over Mokuba's shoulder to know what 'we need to talk' means, please don't-"

" _Seto_ ,"

There was no room for argument with that tone

"Atleast wait for me to tell you what this is about before you start pleading for your life, would you?"

Reluctantly, Seto hung his head and shut up, his eyes on the floor as Atem gently wrapped his arms around him and suddenly lifted him up- wow, thanks werewolf strength- and set him on the nearest empty counter, setting both hands on the counter, on each of his sides, and thus boxing him in

Now it was Atem's turn to look down, however, his head hung and refusing to meet Seto's eyes

"Do you.... remember the story I told you? About the architect?"

"Yes..."

Where was Atem going with this?

Hopefully not another folk tale, Seto didn't think he could handle the waiting to know what the point of all of this really was....

"Koga married Elena in only three months, because he loved her so deeply, he said that he knew he loved her from the moment he saw her,"

"So?"

" _SO_ ... I'm saying that you falling in love so quickly isn't all that unusual... that... _us...._ falling in love so quickly .. there might be a reason for it,"

Seto blinked slowly, staring down at him in confusion

"What do you mean? Is this ... some kind of werewolf thing? Where .. people fall in love with you at an absurd pace? Like a siren?"

Atem looked up slowly, a crinkled look on his face, like a cat who had just licked a lemon

"What....? _No_ , first of all that isn't how sirens work, second of all werewolves have nothing to do with any kind of ... _any of that_ , and third of all did you not hear what I just said?"

"That.. there might be a reason I fell in love with you so quickly?"

"That _us_ falling in love so quickly may have a reason for it yes,"

"Ok," Seto said seriously

"But if this is your way of breaking up with me I'd prefer for you to just spit out so I can convince you not to instead of dragging me around on a chain of explanations that I don't give a flying fuck about,"

And then, Atem went through what Seto would lovingly call "The Facial Olympics"

There was such a large variety of expressions displayed in just a few seconds that it nearly looked cartoonish, like a really well done anime charector

Most of them related to rage and confusion in some format before finally settling on pinched resignation

"... Ok.... listen closely to me, you _dense fucking egg_ , how many times do I have to say 'us' for it to actually work as a hint instead of sounding more and more like a poorly placed Jordan Peele reference?"

...

Seto didn't seem to get it, and Atem wanted to pull his head off

One last try it is then

"I. Am. In. Love. With. You. .... I think,"

Seto was utterly _shocked_ by this information, staring at Atem the same way he would have stared at him if he had just grown a second head

How could Atem possibly love him?

Seto was... Seto was... _a wreck_

Seto understood how he loved Atem, Atem was incredible

Not perfect, ofcourse, no one was, but to Seto?

To Seto he had hung the moon and stars and created the sun from his smile alone

So how did an awkward former-virgin cheerleading CEO with a tendency to constantly fuck things up earn the heart of the best human- .. er... _person_...- that he had ever met!?

"But.. how....?"

Atem sighed quietly, reaching up and cupping his cheek again, pulling his face down closer and stroking his thumb over the apple of Seto's cheek

"That's what I was trying to tell you," he said softly

"We Magic Folk have a stronger connection to the spiritual world than humans do, I'm not saying we're all psychic or anything like that, but ... by very nature of what we are, there is magic in our veins, even if we can't use it the way a witch could, it's still there, and sometimes that magic... it _reacts_ in a very certain way to very certain people, some people are meant to have multiple loves in their lives, some people's souls go through lifetime after lifetime loving different people, they love people in life, and in death, and in whatever lies in between and in the afterlife, they love people eternally but there... there isn't a very specific person that they _always_ love, in every lifetime, in every universe, who they lie with even in heaven..... some people, however, _do_ have these... these... _soulmates_ , who they love so entirely and so eternally that they cannot live even one lifetime without them, a connection like that is strong, strong enough to be ... _palpable_ , to actually feel it when you're close enough, for humans they can only assume, they can tell that there's _something_ there but they don't know what it is, our kind, being more... adept.... at this sort of knowledge is a little more understanding, some people can just _feel_ that pulse, and the people that can call it different things depending on species, vampires call them thralls, dragons call them treasures, we wolves call them mates, when a wolf finds their mate, we can sense it, sometimes, it doesn't happen for all of us but for some of us... we just _know_ , and when our lovers are human, our magic awakens this... sensation of knowing, for them as well, I think ... maybe that's what this is, maybe that's what we are, and if it is, if that's what's going on, then it makes sense that love has blossomed between us so quickly, for you and I have loved eachother time and time again, lifetime after lifetime and even in the afterlife, we have promised to always be together, if we are mates, then that's what this means,"

Seto was quiet for a moment, before gently wrapping his hand around Atem's wrist, letting his fingers slowly stroke along the werewolf's soft flesh as he leaned down and gave him a slow, loving kiss

"I still have no questions for you, I don't care what you are, or what we are, or about any of this shit, you're Atem, and that's all that matters to me,"

Atem smiled warmly, closing his eyes as he leaned up to press their foreheads together affectionately

"You're being kind of stupid about it, not wanting to ask questions..... but I appreciate it all the same,"

"Oh, I do have _one_ thing I'm curious about though,"

Atem blinked, tilting his head

"And that is?"

".. Soooo.... dragons are real then?"

Atem was going to fucking kill him

 

~+~

 

"Can you only change on the full moon?"

"Do you change into full wolves or those half-wolf-half-man things?"

"Were you born this way or were you bitten?"

"How do you turn into a werewolf anyway?"

"Can you control yourself as a wolf or do you black out?"

"Do you have superpowers?"

"How long-"

" _Enough_ ," Atem finally announced, effectively silencing anyone else who may have wanted to get a question in

"I will answer anything and everything but ... one at a time, hm? In sequence... no, we can change whenever we want, we change into full wolves, I was bitten, if you are bitten by a werewolf hard enough to break skin, you become one, as long as you survive, we can control ourselves just fine, and I suppose that depends on how you would define 'superpowers', we are faster and stronger than humans, we have advanced healing and incredible immune systems, we have advanced senses so we can- for example- hear things humans cannot, and ofcourse we can shapeshift, but we can't fly or turn back time or anything like that,"

"If you have these powers, then does that mean you were cheating during the cheer competition?" Marik asked, eyebrows raised

"No, we don't use our powers during competitions, as you said, that would be cheating,"

"But how do you just... turn it off?"

"How do you not piss where you stand everytime the urge hits you? It's called _control_ , just as humans can limit how much strength they use at any given time, we can as well, otherwise we'd never be able to drive cars," he noted with a playfull snort

Marik looked mildly embarrassed, and Mai took that opportunity to simply bombard Atem with questions

"How does the pack thing work? Do you have an Alpha? Who bit you? Why did they bite you? Who else knows? How old were you when you were bitten? Are you all werewolves or just some of you? How much-"

"Ok, ok," Atem finally said, managing to cut her off

"I... think it may simply be easier in this case if I just tell the story of how I ended up this way, it will answer alot of your questions for me as is, and be easier on me to keep up with,"

That certainly had Seto's attention, he wondered how detailed Atem would get about this

Knowing the other cheerleader? Probably very

"My mother died when I was three, and my father died when I was sixteen, so I moved in with the Mutos after his death, I didn't know them at the time, I was born in Egypt and raised in Tokyo, never set foot in Domino until after my father's funeral, Father called the Mutos 'family freinds' and I took that as it was, Yugi and I hit it off right away, and I quickly started becoming freinds with his freinds by proxy, especially Joey, we were very close, what I didn't know at the time, however, was that my new freinds ... none of them were human, there is a reason that Yugi and I look so similar, we are doppelgangers of eachother, I know that word has developed a different context in human minds but... to be clear, doppelgangers aren't bad by virtue, you see them all the time in today's world in fact, and sometimes people even meet them, the instance occurs when a faery and a human are conceived at the exact same time in the exact same place, Yugi was conceived in the faery realm, wich lies parallel to our own, we are doppelgangers, usually a doppelganger is an _exact_ physical copy of another, but we have a few differences, the reason for that being that, unlike most doppelgangers, Yugi wasn't _born_ in the faery realm, his mother came to the human realm when she was pregnant with him, wich caused the link between us to sever early,"

"You're starting to confuse me, how do werewolves play into all of this?" Seto asked tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose

"Right... sorry, Joey and his sister were born werewolves, incidentally so was Tristan but that isn't important right now, the five of them were all very close when I met them, and eventually, I became close to them as well, I was the only human in the group, and... much like you witnessed the attack tonight, when I was seventeen, I witnessed an attack on my freinds. We were simply hanging out after school, at night, I honestly don't even remember what we were doing, we may have been helping Tristan practice for lacrosse try-outs or something but.... I do remember that when the hunters came, it was like a massacre, there was so much blood, so much fighting... Joey and the others managed to fend them off without anyone getting seriously injured, except for me. As a human with no exceptional healing abilities, I was hit and stayed hit, until Joey bit me... There was a problem with that though, his father was the current Alpha, and had banned anyone turning people without his permission- even his own son, it was a rule that, if broken, deserved death, in his opinion. He was a sick and sadistic man, he wanted me to watch as he murdered my sire, believing that it would make me more complacent and submissive. What he didn't know was that unlike other baby wolves, I wasn't afraid of him, nor so confused that I couldn't make my own choices yet. When he attempted to kill Joey, I killed him instead, thus creating a very strange relationship between Joey and I. As I had just killed the Alpha, I became the new Alpha in his place, making all of the other wolves in the pack submissive to me, yet, at the same time... I was _still_ Joey's creation. At the end of the day, sires and the wolves they spawn have very special relationships, like... older siblings who care for younger ones, parents even, to some. That relationship may or may not fade over time into something less intense but .. in the beginning especially, it's crucial. Your sire is like your safe space, in a time when everything is an explosion of confusion and fear and uncertainty. You can feel safe with them, as a baby wolf with absolutely zero experience with the supernatural.. now turned Alpha of my own pack, that relationship was twice as important to me as it would be to anyone else. And for his credit, Joey's relationship to me was even stronger than any other beta's would be, Alpha lineage is passed down through one of two ways- bloodline, or death. If a wolf kills an Alpha they take their place, but if an Alpha dies any other way, then whatever blood relative is closest to them becomes an Alpha instead. That would have been Joey, nature would have given him this power if his father had died any other death, I stole it from him to save his life, yet... he bore no animosity towards me at all. But still, I have no living relatives left, so when I die, if I have no children or am not killed by another wolf, my power will be his again, he is _still_ my first beta, _and_ my sire,"

No fucking wonder Atem and Joey were so attached at the hip...

Seto felt kind of bad for being so territorial over him now, but he atleast understood why he felt the way he did

If this was really some magical, mystical, soulmate connection like Atem had explained, then it would make sense for him to be bothered by an equally magical and mystical connection like their's

And it explained why Joey hadn't exactly been very receptive to him all this time either, the blonde's initial curtness was probably his _own_ territorial behavior, or ... protectiveness, atleast

Seto would want to rip to shreds anyone who looked at Mokuba the way Seto had been looking at Atem all that time, if their relationship really so closely resembled that of an older brother taking care of his younger one, practically _raising_ him in whatever weird werewolfy way that sires.. did... that.... then ofcourse he would have seen Seto as a threat when the human had been practically _pouring_ with lust for Atem all this time...

Hell, Joey could probably smell that on him, if their noses really worked as well as Atem said before

...

Wich meant that _Atem_ could too and _oh dear **GODS**_ had Atem _known_ all this time how fucking horny Seto always was for him then!

Had he known right there in the very beginning that Seto wanted him so badly?

Was THAT why Joey kept cockblocking him!? Because he could literally fucking _smell_ Seto lusting after his "baby brother" and didn't want Atem to get hurt!?

Suddenly it felt like Seto was living in a parallel universe where he was the bad guy in all of this and he did _NOT_ like it

Seto had gone from feeling kind of guilty to stone cold fear to some strange existentialism all in a matter of seconds and if the way the wolves were looking at him meant anything, they all knew it too

".. Seto... are you alright?" Atem asked slowly, breaking his boyfreind from his thoughts

".. I'm fine, so, does this werewolf stuff have anything to do with why you can't drive?"

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm just terrible with directions, unless I am _literally_ sniffing my way to a destination, I'll just end up the exact opposite of wherever I intended to go, Joey is extremely protective of me anyway so we just figured that, atleast for now, it would be better if I simply allow him to drive,"

Well that was anti-climactic

"We learned that lesson the hard way when we let him take my bike to the convenience store and he ended up in Fuji Park," Yugi noted with a laugh, successfully making Atem blush with embarrassment

"Does being doppelgangers afford you two any special bond too?" Seto asked curiously

He wanted to know what he was contending with here, after all

Not that it was a competition, but if Atem had these mystical connections with more than one person, he wanted to know about it

"Ofcourse it does, Yugi is like... another half to my soul, we are incomplete without eachother, the relationship I have with Joey was formed by a series of choices, not always my own but ... choices all the same, what I have with Yugi was forged by fate, the universe created us for one another, our bodies may have been born looking similar by a coincidence but it is fate that chose the souls that would inhabit them, doppelgangers often share what's coined as 'twin souls', not actual twins ofcourse, but ... souls that were created at the same time, as peices of eachother, so to speak,"

So if Joey had choices and Yugi had fate, where did that leave Seto in the big scheme of things?

He was starting to get jealous again, wich Atem was, apparently, aware of, as he reached across the table and quickly took the CEO's hand

"What I have with you though, Seto, is even more powerfull, I have fate _and_ choice on my side with you, I choose to be with you in every lifetime, I chose to bind my soul to your's, and it is fate that brings us together time and time again because of that choice, to recognize eachother so immediately with no prior signs of affiliation... it's... heavenly, don't you think?"

Before Seto could answer, someone cleared their throat, causing him to glare in Marik's general direction

"I'd say this is 'nice' but it's actually pretty sickening, so do you howl at the moon or...?"

Why did Seto have the sneaking suspicious that this would go on all night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that all of this made sense, and if you need any clarity on anything, please feel free to ask in a comment, I have so many headcanons for this thing that never made it into the fic, I'd love to share them! Also, the bodies were mostly cleaned up by magic, thanks to Atem's pack including witches, they did have to get rid of the bodies but thanks to magic the blood and such was cleaned up, and the bodies are glamored so that they can't be found by anyone by accident


	9. Trauma Drama

Well, three hours, that was kind of close to "all night"

By the time they left Ra Horus, it was after three A.M., and Seto had never felt so exhausted and energized at the same time

"So... I've revealed pretty much every secret I can think of, can I ask you something now?"

Seto couldn't imagine what the fuck Atem could possibly want to know about him, considering the last several hours had been spent letting the werewolf out of the bag, every "secret" Seto might be keeping seemed pretty boring in comparison

"You have officially earned the right to ask me _anything_ ," he promised as they walked

They had decided to get some fresh air and take a walk in the park before going back to Seto's, they were still covered in blood but it all dried by now and mostly blended into their uniforms, and if by some off chance someone else was wandering around in the park at nearly four in the morning, their costumes provided a pretty convenient excuse to be covered in blood- they were just cheerleaders who got finished doing a horror skit, no reason to be suspicious

"So ... what's your deal with schools then? Did you get bullied alot or ... I don't know, get embarrassed on the playground or something?"

Well Seto should have seen this coming

He shook his head, shrugging and trying to downplay the .... unpleasantness... of the memories, he didn't want Atem to feel bad for asking so he would just blurt it out as quickly and casually as possible and hope that Atem didn't get too.... well, here it went

"My parents were murdered at a football game,"

Atem stopped dead in his tracks- because ofcourse he did

"Wait... what?"

"Remember when I told you my mother was a cheerleader? She was helping coach the highschool cheer team for the last game of the season, my father was a history teacher at Domino high, they were both at the game that night trying to support their students, Mokuba and I were pretty young so we were at home with a babysitter, as it turns out the visiting team had a fucking _psycho_ on it, he brought a nife with him in case they lost, and... they did, so his solution was to just go on a stabbing spree, my mom was trying to protect the cheerleaders, my dad was trying to protect my mom.... I never saw either of them again after that night,"

Atem looked like he was either ready to cry... or puke, it was really hard to tell wich

"Seto I- ... I am _so sorry_ , if I had known your ... aversion was because of trauma I never woul-"

"It's alright, if it was that big of a deal I would've told you,"

No, he wouldn't, he tended to keep this one a pretty closely guarded secret

But wasn't going to let Atem take any guilt over this, it _really_ wasn't his fault

And he had been right before, in a way, Seto had needed to open himself up more to doing things for other people that he may not necessarily _want_ to do, but that he _needed_ to do

"Besides, it isn't... 'trauma' so much, oing to school games, it isn't like I have anxiety from it or anything, it just... makes me _angry_ , everything about schools now seems so petty and rediculous... people put so much emphasis on sports and highschool popularity and getting the best grades and school dances and all of that other bullshit that doesn't actually matter... schools, especially highschools, are like a standing monument of all of the petty bullshit that I hate, if there hadn't been so much emphasis on winning that fucking game, maybe my parents would still be alive, I know that wouldn't have made the guy less of a homicidal maniac but... maybe it would have prevented him from taking it out there and then... so many lives were ruined that day, not just mine and my brother's but... there were others killed, others injured, _teenagers_ , just .. kids... their lives are ruined, some of them taken, but all schools care about are pushing kids to the limit until they fucking _break_ , all sports care about are the same thing, we are raised in a culture of absolute perfection and if you're less than perfect you're less than human, Gozaburo was the worst about that, sure I had private tutors after my parents died but... the way he pushed me to be the best at everything, the way I now have that ... _force_ , that drive that I don't necessarily want, that desperate need to be the best at everything, he turned me into the thing I hated most, and highschools are just a breeding ground for this mentality, besides being the most shallow places on the face of the _earth_ , all of the things I hate just tie back to that place, so I just get... angry, by all of it, school, sports, academics, even pep cheer, they all just infuriate me because of this... so it isn't that it's really 'traumatic', it's just.... it just makes me angry,"

"Seto, trauma expresses it's self in different forms, it isn't always PTSD and panic attacks, you have a right to feel however you feel and not have to explain it to people,"

Seto gave a quiet snort, his lips twitching up into a small grin

"Thanks Doc, how much do I owe you for the therapy?"

"Well considering that you saved my life a few hours ago... I think I can let this one pass on the house," Atem teased, sliding his hand into Seto's and giving it a small squeeze

"Gee thanks, but I take it you liked highschool? With how enthusiastic you were about this cheer,"

"Oh no, not at all, it was torture, but cheer is the one thing that made those days bearable, it made me happy, so I only have fond memories of pep cheer because of that,"

Seto could understand that, he certainly couldn't blame Atem for being so enthusiastic if it was a bright spot in his life

"Makes sense I guess.... so can you really turn your powers on and off like that?"

"We can,"

"And you've _never_ used them during cheer?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that, I've used them at games like tonight's before from time to time, mostly for safety reasons, catching someone who falls off the pyramid or holding someone up when they start to tremble, but _never_ during a competition, we have a very strict rule that unless someone could get seriously injured- such as falling and breaking their neck- we don't allow the use of powers, and anyone who breaks that rule gets faced with three months suspension,"

"Damn... you're not kidding, how do you know if someone is using their powers though? Can you smell it?"

"No, you can just... tell, it's sort of like lying, everyone has a tell, though we don't even need that to know when someone isn't being honest, we can tell when you're lying due to our extra senses, we can hear your heart quicken, smell the excess sweat, see the flush of your skin from higher blood pressure, and ofcourse we can pick up the chemosignals,"

....

Well this was about to get awkward

"... I see, so .... what else can you sense? Like.... emotions?"

"To an extent, werewolves are not empaths, but we can certainly smell strong emotions like fear, greif, and excitement,"

Atem paused, smirking a little as he glanced over his shoulder at his boyfreind

"And arousal, that one is one of the first things that our kind learns to pick up on because it's so damn _easy_ ,"

Aw motherfucker....

"Embarrassment is another one you know,"

Wich only caused Seto's embarrassment to deepen

"You know when we were discussing kinks the other night, you didn't mention that humiliation was one of your's," he grumbled bitterly

"It isn't, I'm just teasing you," Atem laughed, reaching up to gently boop his nose

"I think it was cute, that you were so attracted to me so immediately," he mentioned with a grin

"And I assume your _sire_ noticed too?"

"Sweetie, to be honest, I think everyone in the entire gym noticed, regardless of their species,"

Fucking perfect....

"But I think it was cute!!" Atem insisted again, moving an arm around his lover's waist and hugging him closer

Seto was still rather humiliated, but he felt atleast a little bit better about it with the knowledge that Atem hadn't been flat-out _offended_

"You probably get that all the time, people lusting after you I mean,"

"Sometimes, but not as often as you seem to think," Atem shrugged back, his expression gentle and amused

"I'm happy though, Seto, I'm happy that you found me, I'm happy that we met, that everything unfolded the way it did... well, except for the hunters, I really could have gone without that,"

"What's their problem anyway?" Seto asked with an irritated frown

There had been so much to discuss regarding the supernatural that they hadn't touched much on the hunters, outside of the fact that there were some humans out there who hunted Magic Folk in the hopes of exterminating them all

....

And that one of those people was the same Bakura that Marik had a crush on

Ryou's twin, Akefia, was a yakuza boss, but not any normal yakuza

He ruled over a gang of hunters, and their primary objective was to murder Atem and his pack

"You know how people can be, afraid of anything they don't understand, hating anyone who isn't like them, it's been that way for centuries and it isn't going to change, witch trials and werewolf hunts and vampire slayers.... it's never going to change,"

Seto felt an odd sensation of resigned sadness fall over him

He hated to hear that, he hated that there were these assholes out there who would torment people just for being different from how they were, but he knew that there wasn't much he could do about it in the long run

All he could really do was stand by Atem's side and fight with him, protect him, if he couldn't change the minds of the hunters, he could atleast stop them from hurting his loved ones

"And this hunter, Akefia, there's nothing in particular about him that's different from the others?"

"Actually... no, Akefia is quite different from most," Atem confessed

"Akefia and Ryou aren't really brothers, you see, they're changelings,"

Somehow, that didn't exactly make things clearer

"And a changeling would be...?"

"A sort of practice, it's a very old, antiquated tradition that isn't practiced much anymore, wherein faery parents swap their babies with human ones, oftentimes if there's a doppelganger, they'll simply use that child for the swap,"

"Why would they do that?"

"It's a two-fold solution to a singular problem, you see unlike werewolves and vampires, the fae folk used to be revered by humans, worshiped, adored, like... tiny gods, the purpose of changelings were to keep the beleif and reverence of fae folk alive, human children who came back to the human world after living in the faery realm for the first four or five years of their lives would remember the fae and spend their entire lives trying to get a taste of that magic back, spreading the tales of the fae when they may otherwise become considered nothing but folk stories, and faery children who lived as humans for a time oftentimes felt a kinship with humans in some way, they would have a desire to visit the human realm more throughout their lives and continue spreading the stories as well, plus, they themselves could exhibit this magic in front of human eyes, further fueling the beleif, but as I said ofcourse, this is a very old practice oftentimes now considered to be barbaric, fae parents became less and less willing to give away their babies, even just for a few years, and they realized more and more over that the more faeries were considered to be myths, the more the children who spoke of them were considered to be freaks and liars, the less they were accepted, the fae realized that this was a cruel thing to do and became less willing to subject them to that,"

"But it still happens sometimes?"

Seto presumed that Atem wouldn't be telling him this story otherwise

"Yes, with the very old traditionalists, Akefia was born human and taken when he was an infant, replaced by Ryou, when they were swapped back, Akefia felt cheated, angered, that the magical world around him was taken away from him, he wanted it back, and even worse, he began to resent the fae, as Akefia's parents were not... the kindest of people, they hadn't been from the very beginning, and in fact, Ryou is still somewhat suffering from those old traumas from his time with them... Akefia was forced away from loving- if traditional- parents and a world of magic, to a world of emptiness and parents who cared little for him, through no fault of his own, it all just.. _happened_ to him... but as he grew older he became more and more angry and vowed to destroy the fae entirely, the faeries had an extremely large part to do with his trauma, don't get me wrong, but they weren't alone in it, Akefia refuses to realize that,"

"But then why go after _you_?"

"Well, for one thing, he has it out for all supernatural creatures, the fae are just the ones he hates the most, and for another, another thing, Yugi is fae, well, half atleast, his resentment was originally against Yugi, but as you know, I would never allow any harm to come to him, I protected him, and Akefia realized that so long as I was alive, he could do no harm to Yugi, so... the easy solution seems to be to kill me and then kill the rest of my pack- especially Yugi, what he doesn't understand is that the old adage is true- the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf-"

"Is the pack," Seto concluded

"Correct, my pack is strong and mighty, they will never fall to his advances, even long after I'm dead,"

Seto stopped in his tracks, staring down at Atem with a rather distressed look on his face

"What?"

"You're not going to die,"

"Well not soon I would hope!" Atem laughed cheerfully

"But I will someday, all of us will, werewolves are not immortal, true that they age at a snail's pace compared to humans but... death is always a factor in life Seto, worry not though, I plan to live a long life, and I plan to live it with you, there are many longevity potions out there and I am blessed to have a pack inhabited by two very bright witches who can brew them,"

Seto gave a curt nod, but was still incredibly unhappy

"I take it death is a subject that bothers you?"

"Doesn't it bother _you_?"

"To an extent... but I am also a very religious person so I believe that after this life of turbulence and frustration, we will have the option for eternal peace as well, or to live another life, if we so choose,"

"Right.... let me guess, you're kinetic?"

Atem paused, trying and failing to stifle a laugh

"I think you mean _Kemetic_ ,"

Well, there's that familiar sensation of _humiliation_ creeping back into him

"And yes, I am, how did you know?"

"Marik is too, he talks about it sometimes, your restaurant is named Ra Horus and I remember him talking about those gods so... I figured it was a safe bet,"

"Mm, clever boy," Atem smirked, leaning up on the tips of his toes and giving him a soft kiss to the cheek, his expression loving and warm

"Thanks..." Seto mumbled, his face slightly red

"Mm," Atem hummed softly, finally stopping in his step as he stared up at the Kaiba mansion

It felt like they had been walking for an eternity, even though it hadn't been very long, he supposed that was the consequence of speaking of such heavy subjects....

"I won't speak of it anymore for now though, none of this, it's been a long night and I think we could both use some sleep, don't you?"

"Yeah," he agreed softly, pausing long enough to step in front of Atem and cup his face, giving him a soft, loving kiss

"I'm glad that I met you, Atem, werewolf or not, hunters or not, none of it matters, I'm just .... happy to be with you, happy to have you,"

"I feel the same for you," Atem promised, cupping Seto's face and pulling him down for another kiss, letting this one linger a bit longer, last a bit more fully, before pulling back

"Now come upstairs and let's rest, hm? I want you to take the morning off so you can have some decent rest, after you leave for work I'll need to check in with the pack and make sure all of them are doing alright,"

"Yes Doctor, would you like me to come home and tell you about my childhood too?" Seto snorted playfully, rolling his eyes as he unlocked the door

"You really like this psychologist thing don't you? What, is it a kink?" Atem teased as he followed Seto inside

"What? _No_ , I just... think you'd be good at it, you sort of act like one, if cooking doesn't work out maybe you should pursue it, or, I mean, werewolves live long lives right? Who's to say you can't do both?"

Atem snorted, a playfull look on his face

"Baby, did you forget that I can tell when you're lying?"

"I'm not! I think you'd be good at it!!"

"Oh I know you're being honest about _that_ , I'm significantly less confident in your motivations however,"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Seto insisted, making a b-line for the stairs

Atem rolled his eyes, shutting the door behind him and toeing his shoes off

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind, but... you _do_ know that tons of people fall in love with their therapists right?"

Seto turned on his heel, staring at Atem in _utter horror_

"... On second thought, stick to the cooking,"

"That's what I thought,"

 

~+~

 

Seto couldn't concentrate

Everything was just too ..... _much_ , or not enough, he wasn't actually sure

He just knew that it felt ... off, everything felt off

He couldn't stop thinking about Atem

He had been at work for the last three hours and he just couldn't get his mind off of his boyfreind

... His ... _mate_....

Gods that was a weird thing to think, a weird term to use, but he liked it, there was something so much more intimate and so much more permanent about it than just calling him a "boyfreind"

Anyone could have a boyfreind, but how many people could say that they had a _mate_?

It made his heart beat faster just to think of it, closing his eyes for a moment and just... losing himself in the fantasy of it

Not a sexual fantasy- though, he had _plenty_ of those- it was something .. else

Something more intimate

It was a _life_ fantasy

He fantasized about their next date, about living together, about proposing to Atem, about getting married and having children...

He knew that it was a simple thing to fantasize, such an ordinary life, but he had always wanted to have a family- the one thing he had always wanted when he was a child too- and now that he had all of these.... _instincts_ flooding through him, those urges were stronger than ever

He found himself unable to concentrate on his work, only doing the most monotonous tasks for the afternoon so he wouldn't be required to put much thought into anything, for fear of screwing things up due to his mind being so ... _distant_...

He was watching the clock now, practically aching for the work day to end so he could go meet Atem at the restaurant and take him to the gym

With the next competition not being for another two months, they could focus on basic training for now, no routine to rehearse until this weekend when the full squads got together- separately, they were still competing against eachother after all- and came up with some ideas, wich meant that he and Atem could take it a bit easier, have something of a ... a gym date, if that was a thing

He couldn't wait

_"Mr. Kaiba, your three o'clock is here in Conference Room A,"_

Good, maybe that could kill an hour or even two so he could go on and meet Atem without having to concentrate too much on anything else

He gave his assistant a curt but considerably polite "Thank you" and hurried out of his office, practically rushing to the conference room and wondering in the back of his mind if he could just... leave when the meeting was over

If it only took an hour and a half or so, could he make an excuse to go to Ra Horus and see Atem early?

He could work on his laptop wile he waited for Atem to finish that shift, maybe.....

Unfortunately however, he didn't have much time to consider any of that, the moment he stepped into the conference room, he went pale, and realized that he was screwed

"Surprise Bitch Boy, I bet you never thought you'd see me- .. well, _ever_ ," Bakura grinned, cocking his gun as he aimed it at Seto's head

"........ _Fuck_....."


	10. Full Circle

"Don't you think it makes you look petty to do all of this out of jealousy?"

Akefia, who was, indeed, the spitting image of Ryou- thus how Seto knew who he was- spun around in what the CEO could only assume to be irritation

"Jealousy? Now who filled your head with that nonsense?"

"Atem seems to think that you're jealous of Ryou, so you hate faeries and the supernatural because of it,"

"Poppycock, I hate the supernatural because they're abominations, and those... _faeries_.... by taking me as a child my soul is forever stained by their touch, I may never move on to the afterlife, I may be haunted for the rest of eternity by evil spirits because of their touch being on me, those faeries have damned me and my soul for the foreseeable future but if I can get rid of them, perhaps I can somehow repent,"

"Oh, so you _are_ just another bigot, that's boring, what's next? Telling me I'm going to hell because of my boyfreind? Oh and by the way, as 'souls' go, I really don't think you have to worry about that, given that you don't seem to _have_ one,"

"Oh you're going to be eternally damned for your lover, Seto Kaiba, but not because he's a man, because he's a _beast_ ,"

"Well if he's the beast in this relationship that would make me the beauty and if you've ever _seen_ Atem you'd know that's just fucking _not true_ ,"

Akefia huffed, clearly annoyed with Seto's lack of concern

"Joke now, wolf-fucker, we'll see how funny you find things when I put that dog of your's down for good,"

"I doubt that, I think Atem is far stronger than you think he is, and I _know_ he's far stronger than _you_ ,"

"Perhaps, but he'll be as weak as a newborn lamb when he sees my gun against your head," Akefia smirked, pointing his pistol at Seto again, laying the tip against his forehead this time and pushing, forcing Seto's head back a few inches

"What is it with you villains always thinking that the key to getting the hero to surrender is by kidnapping their love ones? Fuck it's like you've never even seen _half the movies in existence_ , it never works,"

"Movies are movies, this is real life, and a wolf's connection to their mate is stronger than anything else they may have, there's no chance Atem would risk your life to save his own, nor even the lives of his pack, or his sire, or even his doppelganger, you outrank them all, Seto Kaiba, I'm not necessarily sure if I'd be _proud_ of that but it's still worth noting,"

Seto merely huffed, shaking his head to rid himself of the gun and sneering at the other man

He didn't believe for a single second that Atem would fall victim to this asshole, but.... he _did_ worry that his life being at stake may get Atem into trouble....

He needed to get out of here on his own, before Atem came to rescue him

He had heard Akefia make some sort of false-ransom call to Atem about ten minutes ago, he wouldn't have long to get out of here before Atem showed up...

But wile he concocted a plan, he'd have to stall

"So who lied and told you that people are evil just because they're not like you?"

"It's no lie," Akefia snorted, pulling his gun away from Seto's face and took a few casual steps around the warehouse- because wasn't it _always_ a fucking warehouse?

"Faeries are little more than evil spirits, things were never the same with my parents after they abducted me... they knew that the faeries had stained my soul, that I was no longer a real human because of it, not human nor fae... something in between, something ... _monsterous..._... my parents hated me because of that switch, because of what the faeries did, they noticed that I had replaced Ryou immediately, and they despised me for it, for replacing their 'magical', 'special' child... they never treated me the same, I was always a disappointment... if those faeries had just left well enough alone my life could have been just fine!!"

Sooooooooo it _was_ jealousy then

Seto thought as much

"Have you ever considered that maybe your parents didn't love you because you're just an asshole and it has nothing to do with faeries? If you need to talk about that mountain of issues you've got there, I know a guy who's pretty good with therapy, you have to promise not to fall in love with him though,"

Akefia didn't seem amused

"Shut up, I will never have any fondness for any of those disgusting creatures! They are everything that's wrong with the world, every evil, every darkness, it all comes from the supernatural world, from _faeries_ and their kin! I hate them all, and I _will_ see their destruction!!"

... Gee, that was starting to sound somewhat ... familiar....

And just as Seto was getting an idea, Akefia seemed to come to his limit on what he would allow in terms of backtalk and disrespect, without any further hesitation, he squeezed the trigger, and Seto soon felt a horrible pain in his leg, dragging a scream from his throat

"Mess with me again and you'll get worse, I may not be able to kill you as long as I'm using you as bait but that doesn't mean I can't simply make you miserable and shoot you full of lead until he arrives,"

SHIT!!!

Seto really hadn't expected that one....

He was panting quietly, trying to shift to get some pressure to the bleeding wound but with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles tied to the legs of the chair, there was really nothing he could do

Damn....

Thanks to his big mouth, he now had an even shorter time limit to work with and even more to lose if he didn't think of something quickly....

And then...

"You know, you and I may not be so different after all," he mused casually, clearly taking the other human by surprise

"What do you mean...?"

"I mean that.... my life was stolen from me too, in a way, my parents were murdered when I was a child, senselessly, by a _monster_ , and the man who adopted me was a far bigger monster than any I've ever seen before... I would love to get my revenge on the people who took my life from me, not just the murderer or my adoptive father but all of them, every single one who made it possible, maybe we could help eachother..... you help me get rid of my monsters and I help you get rid of your's, I don't have any affection for any faeries or anyone in Atem's pack but Atem himself, I'll make you a deal.... let Atem live, I'll keep him with me, all the time, at my house, make sure he never gets out to ... create more werewolves, and I'll let you kill whoever you want, in return, you help me get my revenge too,"

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to fall for that?" Akefia huffed

"I'm being serious, Bakura, I'm Seto Kaiba, I'm a cold-hearted bastard, Atem is all I want, what use do I have for the others? Especially that dumb dog who keeps cockblocking me.... I'd just as soon see them all dead and have Atem all to myself, let me live out my life with him, I'll help you... you'll help me... and all it costs you is one single werewolf, can't you spare atleast that much for the extermination of the rest?"

"That's an extremely cruel proposition you have there, you'd really put Atem through so much heartache?"

"I'm a CEO, cruelty is my specialty,"

Akefia was quiet for a few moments, before starting to smirk sadistically and taking a step closer

"Do you know what I think, Seto Kaiba?"

Then another step

"I think..."

Then another

"That you're a fucking _liar_ ,"

At that moment, the door burst open, Atem appearing in front of him, like a hero in some big movie

It was kind of ... stupidly beautifull

"Just the man I wanted to see," Akefia smirked, pointing the gun at Seto's head again

"Do you see the syringe of Wolfsbane to your left, Atem?" he asked, nodding towards a small table in the corner, a few prepared needles laying on a tray on top of it

"If you wish for your lovely mate to see the light of day again, you'll plunge it into your neck and let the poison flow through your veins,"

"Oh that's real classy, can't even kill him yourself," Seto grumbled, wincing as the gun was tapped hard against his head

"Quiet you,"

"I'll do whatever you want," Atem said immediately

"Just don't hurt him,"

"I do love it when they say that," Akefia chuckled, watching as Atem moved towards the tray

"Don't do it Atem-!"

"Shut up!"

The pistol was smacked against Seto's face, and he could hear Atem screaming out to him from across the room

Damn.....

Damn damn damn damn damn!!!!

If he didn't act fast, that idiot would probably kill himself in the hopes of seeing Seto released....

But how could he manage it?

How could he make this work and get out of this situation?

He didn't know....

Think... think.... think....

Atem was picking up the syringe.....

Think think think think THINK!!!

"Wait!!" he shouted, successfully pausing Atem's actions

"You don't have to do this Senna!"

"What?" Akefia asked slowly

And by some miracle, Atem stayed quiet

"That... that isn't Atem, that's his twin sister, Senna, she's human, she was never bitten, they must have sent her in Atem's place because of believing that your werewolf-only weapons wouldn't work on her, but what they don't seem to know is that aconite poisoning can kill humans too!"

"And why would you care even if that _were_ his sister? I thought you only cared about Atem,"

"I lied, you were right, I care about Atem and his family and his pack! They're... they're my family too, I don't want her to get hurt, you can do anything you want to me but I'm not going to let her get hurt!"

"I don't believe you, that voice was _distinctly_ Atem's,"

"Yes because Yugi glamored her for it to be, but... but he probably didn't glamor her body, just... lift... lift up your shirt, Senna, and show him! Please, you don't deserve to die for this!"

Akefia chuckled softly, grinning from ear to ear

"Well I don't believe this... but I don't mind a little humiliation before you die, sure, go ahead, 'Senna', lift up your shift and let's see,"

Atem was staring at him in concern, clearly not sure where Seto was going with this, but slowly locked his fingers into the hem of his shirt, giving Seto the opportunity he needed to suddenly throw the entirety of his weight backwards, counting on the wooden chair to break against the cement like it did in the movies

Too bad that didn't work

But he _did_ atleast get away from the gun, and it managed to break one of the legs off, allowing Seto one foot to be free and drawing Akefia's attention away from Atem _just_ long enough for Atem to use his enhanced speed and appear behind him, aiming a bite to his neck

But Akefia must have noticed, he turned his entire body, and just before he could shoot, Seto aimed a kick upwards as hard as he possibly could, his ankle slamming into Akefia's groin and causing him to pause mid-turn, gun aimed at Seto now and attention successfully off of his boyfreind

However... when Akefia tensed, the finger he had positioned around the trigger of the gun squeezed from pain, and the sound of a bullet firing out of the chamber echoed throughout the empty warehouse

"SETO!!" Atem screamed, his claws slashing furiously through Akefia's throat as he pushed the hunter aside and hurried to drop towards Seto's body

There was blood _everywhere_

Pouring out of his chest, out of his mouth, leaking through his clothes....

"Damn..." Seto managed to cough, sputtering quietly as he hacked up another spray of blood

"I really... wanted to be ... badass....."

Fuck...

This wasn't good, he didn't feel right, he could hear Atem screaming out over and over again, different things, none of wich Seto could actually make out, they were all muddled and muted....

"Seto!!! Seto stay with me!! Seto!!"

"Atem..." he coughed, his vision blurring, he could feel his consciousness starting to slip

No

No not yet, not yet, please please....

He needed to say one more thing....

He just needed to say one more thing.... please... please....

"A-Atem...... bi-.... bi...."

 

~+~

 

"Do ya' think he'll be ready by the competition?" Joey asked slowly, staring over the edge of the table as he sipped at his coffee

"I don't know about that... he suffered a pretty big loss Jo," Yugi said quietly

"I wouldn't be surprised if he sat this one out,"

"Aw c'mon! It wasn't that big!"

"Maybe not to you, but you've never been in his position before either," Yugi reasoned softly, his expression warm and sympathetic as he watched Atem set a few plates at the pass for a waitress to take

"I think this is gettin' blown way outta proportion," Joey muttered around the rim of his coffee cup

"Well maybe, but I mean, to be fair, neither of us have ever been what he's been through, it isn't right to judge, and a loss is a loss, he needs time to greive it, even if it seems strange to us,"

A second later, the door to Ra Horus opened, and Seto strode in looking tall and mighty, practically _glowing_ with happiness as he set his breifcase and laptop bag at his usual table and practically _skipping_ towards the counter, leaning over it and grinning wolfishly at the chef

"Atem!! Come here! I found the perfect song for my routine! You have to hear it!"

"Motherfucker...." Joey cursed in anger

He had really hoped that Seto would be out of commission long enough to avoid participating in this competition

Now that Seto had the same stamina that they did, his team might just beat their's

Dammit

"I guess losing your humanity isn't that big of a deal after all," Yugi chuckled pleasantly, taking a bite of his lunch

"Imagine that," Joey snorted back, rolling his eyes and watching as Atem popped out from behind the counter and leaned over, cupping Seto's face and yanking him down to give him a long, slow, thrilled kiss

"Hello my darling beloved,"

"Hello yourself, my heart and soul,"

"Fucking _shit_ would you two get a room!?" Joey almost screamed, simmering as Yugi patted his leg placatingly

Seto promptly flipped him off, making the blonde even more angry

"How was your first day back at work? Are you alright? Did your senses go all.... _too much_?" Atem asked worriedly, stroking Seto's cheek with his thumb

"No no, I'm fine, everything is fine, I've been using this sensory-muting tricks you taught me and it's fine, I just couldn't wait to see you again,"

"I told you that your _urge_ for me would be even stronger now that you're a wolf," Atem pointed out with a snicker

"And you were right, I can barely stand to be apart from you,"

"And I you,"

Joey, in the corner, made a gagging sound, but the lovebirds didn't seem to care

"Let them wear out the honeymoon phase, we certainly had our's," Yugi chuckled

"What'a'ya' talkin' 'bout Yug? We're _still_ on our's," he snickered, leaning over to kiss Yugi's cheek

He supposed Yugi was right though, for all of the greif that he put Atem through with their lovey-dovey-ness, he supposed he could let the Alpha have this

Though he was still kind of pissed that he had been replaced as the first-beta

He may be of direct lineage, but with Seto as Atem's mate, he was now the closest thing to the Alpha's kin, he would inherit the title if anything happened to Atem

Not that Joey cared about being an Alpha, he had actually never wanted to be one anyway, he just hated that his position as "The Favorite" had been usurped

"Ryou!! I'm going out for my lunch break, Willow should be here in ten minutes, think you can man the kitchen till then?" Atem shouted as he jumped over the counter

The restaurant was nearly empty at this time of day so it really wasn't a problem

"I'm your guy!" Ryou called back

Atem beamed, taking Seto by the hand and giving it a small squeeze

"Let's go, there's something I want to show you,"

 

~+~

 

"So why didn't Akefia ever try to kill you in your house? I mean he obviously knew who you were,"

Atem laid out the picnic blanket, smoothing the edges, and gesturing for Seto to sit first

"It's alot harder to cover up a home invasion, and alot harder to set a trap too, hunters live by the mentality that they can only defeat us through traps or outnumbering, wich is pretty much true, we certainly have nature's gifts after all,"

"Ofcourse," Seto chuckled softly, sitting on the blanket and watching as Atem set the picnic basket down between them and sat across from him

"Seto... may I ask.... are you really sure that you're ok with this life? I mean I never asked, I just-"

"Well I was _trying_ to tell you to bite me but my fucking body wouldn't cooperate,"

"Well to be fair my darling, you _had_ just been shot in the chest," Atem pointed out with a snicker, making Seto roll his eyes

"That's no excuse,"

Atem merely snorted, shaking his head as he unpacked the picnic basket

"Besides, Atem, if I didn't want to be part of this life, I never would have saved you that night in the locker room to begin with,"

The Alpha paused, his expression warm as he reached out and gently squeezed Seto's hand

"Thank you..."

Seto only shrugged, leaning back and inhaling the crisp summer air

"So... why did you want to bring me out here?"

"Your first full moon is tonight, you won't be able to shift until then but your senses are kicking in, I wanted you to get a feel for why I love being a wolf, I wanted you to get a sense for nature in it's purest form... close your eyes, try to pick up on what you can hear, what you can smell, all of the wonders of the woods that humans can never experience,"

Nodding obediently, Seto closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths

Inhale

Exhale

Repeat....

He could hear birds chirping.... squirrels chittering about as they scurried around some trees...

He could hear the breeze rustling the tree leaves and the sound of - .... moaning....?

His eyes popped open, looking to Atem for guidance, wondering if he had really just heard that, and judging by the grimace on Atem's face....

Apparently he had

"Is that...?"

"Lena and Kara? Yeah..... I should have known they'd be out here," Atem sighed, pouring some cider into their glasses and shaking his head

"Damn vampires, usurping my woods... you really didn't know Lena was one of us huh?"

"Nope, it just worked out that way," Seto sighed back, wincing a little

That was really not what he wanted to hear wile he was trying to have a romantic picnic with his lover... his kid-sister-esque teammate moaning as her girlfreind sucked the blood out of her neck

Fucking perfect

"Want to go to the woods over by Fuji park?" Atem suggested with a shy smile

"Please," Seto agreed, taking his hand and helping him up

"I just have one last request,"

"And what's that?" Atem asked, bending down to start packing up the picnic

"The wood sounds are nice ... but how about we listen to some music instead?"

Atem smirked, his eyes gleaming, flashing brighter red for a breif moment before grabbing his lover's hand and giving it a small kiss,"

"I have _I'll Make A Man Out Of You_ as the next song on my shuffle,"

"Perfect," Seto said softly, his own eyes glinting a soft yellow in the light of the sun

"Absolutely perfect,"


End file.
